Family: Forward to LA
by victoriamartynne
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.
1. Chapter One

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
"Pregnancy's a bitch." Cordelia muttered and placed her hands on her hips. Her back was killing her and she felt as big as whale.  
  
Maybe cleaning out the room that was supposed to be the baby's room wasn't such a good idea, she thought. Angel would murder her on the spot if he knew that was what she was doing. He and Gunn had gone out to clean out a vampire nest a couple of hours and Cordelia had taken that chance to do something other than sit on the couch or sit in front of her desk or lay on the bed. She was seven and a half months pregnant, and didn't she know it.  
  
At least now, the room was somewhat tidier and cleaner and was ready to have the new baby's cot and Connor's cot in it. She'd decided that it wouldn't be practical to have two cots in their room and Angel had been in no position to argue.  
  
She'd been to regular checkups at the hospital and they'd been told that their baby was a girl. They'd both been ecstatic, as had the rest of the AI gang. Fred kept insisting that they call her Brenda, after Shannon Doherty's character in Beverly Hills 90210, but Cordelia and Angel were both vetoing that idea. Angel because he had no idea what Beverly Hills 90210 was and didn't really like the name and Cordelia because she didn't want her baby going out with a biker boy called Dylan who would elope with her to Mexico.  
  
It was six months after they left Sunnydale that Buffy called Angel. He was surprised to hear from her but as she started explaining why she was calling he remembered her telling him back in Sunnydale that she wanted to come see him.  
  
"I won't be coming on my own." She told him. "The rest of the gang will be coming too, apart from Tara, so if you could possibly let us stop in the hotel it would help." Angel found himself unable to say no.  
  
"Great." The slayer exclaimed back in Sunnydale and held her thumb up to the Scoobies sat around her. "Expect us in a couple of days."  
  
Angel hung up the phone knowing that Cordelia would kill him. He'd just come back from clearing out the nest when the phone had rung. He hadn't seen her yet. Gunn directed him upstairs.  
  
Cordelia looked huge, knelt on the floor surrounded in mess. Her abdomen was swelled and straining against the vest top and leggings she was wearing. The rest of her was as slim as ever due to the exercises she made Angel do with her everyday. At first he'd refused, claiming that it could hurt the baby, but he'd caught Gunn helping her and insisted that if she had to do it, it was going to be him that helped her.  
  
She looked up at him and grinned at him when she saw him.  
  
"Were you moving furniture? Never mind." He replied and leant down to kiss her head. "I've just had a phone call. Buffy and the Scoobies are coming to visit."  
  
"What?" She said stonily and glared at him.  
  
"Only for a few days." He flinched under her gaze.  
  
"You said that all of my old high school enemies could come to LA while I look like a beach ball?" She struggled to her feet but wouldn't let him help her. "They don't even know that we're a couple! Never mind the fact that I'm seven and a half months pregnant!"  
  
Her shouting brought Gunn and Wes out of the office upstairs Fred and Gunn from their rooms on the next floor up.  
  
"I didn't think of that." He admitted. "But it won't be that bad."  
  
"Oh, you think?" She glared. "We got into a shouting match when she thought we were just friends or work colleagues even. What the hell do you think she's going to say when she finds out we're a couple and I'm having your baby? She still loves you. Why do you think she's coming here?"  
  
"No she's not in love with me." Angel argued.  
  
"Fred?" Cordy said and lowered herself onto the sofa in the centre of the room.  
  
"No, she's right. Buffy still loves you." Fred agreed. "I think you should listen to Cordelia. The whole pregnancy thing has made her a lot more perceptive. Like, for example, this morning when I woke up and came downstairs she knew instantly that I'd given Gunn a."  
  
"Okay girl. We get the point." Gunn held up his hand to silence his girlfriend.  
  
Wes smirked. "When are they arriving?"  
  
"A couple of days." Angel replied and watched Cordelia's reaction. "Are you okay with that?"  
  
"I guess I have no choice now do I?" She complained and held onto her bump. "But you do all the explaining!"  
  
He smiled at her and knew that she couldn't stay mad at him for long. But she could pretend to for a while.  
  
"Can I get you anything?" He offered.  
  
"I could murder a cup of coffee. And maybe some lettuce. Do we have lettuce?" She asked. Lettuce had become her latest craving, before that it had been peanut butter.  
  
"I could get lettuce." Angel said and looked towards the door and the sunlight. "In a few hours. Gunn, do you mind?"  
  
"Anything for the princess." Gunn said and turned around to go to the store.  
  
"Thanks Gunn." Cordelia smiled and then turned to Angel. "And you don't talk to me for a while." 


	2. Chapter Two

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia spent the next couple of days dreading the Scoobies arrival. Back in high school she used to be the one that people looked at and admired. People looked at her in awe, even Buffy. And although she was pregnant with Angel's child and she was happy she felt at a disadvantage. She knew that Buffy was confused after being dead and needed to find herself in the world again, but she suspected that she wanted Angel back in her life. She knew that Angel loved her but she couldn't help worrying whether he would grow to love Buffy again if they spent sometime together. The last thing Cordelia wanted to do was hurt Buffy, but the truth was bound to hurt her.  
  
Buffy called two days after she'd spoken to Angel and told Fred that they would be arriving in a couple of hours, it was already sunset.  
  
Cordelia set about folding linen and making sure that each room had enough towels and sheets. She tired herself out but at least she managed to pass a little time until they arrived.  
  
Angel came upstairs and found her moving a bedside table in one of the bedrooms.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He glowered and pulled her hands off it.  
  
"You could hurt the baby. Or yourself."  
  
"Angel, I'm pregnant, not helpless." She put her hands on her hips.  
  
"Yes, exactly, you're pregnant. Which means that you don't lift heavy things, you don't come out on cases and you don't do anything that can hurt the baby." He shouted at her and put the table back where it was.  
  
She was about to argue but stopped when she saw the look on his face.  
  
"Now, you are going to go downstairs and sit on the sofa with your son and a cup of coffee for the rest of the day and do absolutely nothing." He ordered.  
  
Her response was to burst out laughing but she did make her way out of the room. "If you think I'm going to sit and do nothing for the rest of the day then you don't know me at all."  
  
"It was worth a try." He shrugged his shoulders and stopped her from walking off by grabbing her wrist. He pulled her towards him. "You know I love you?"  
  
"Yeah I do." She replied and let him press her against the wall and kiss her.  
  
They were interrupted by Lorne calling up the stairs. "They're here kittens!"  
  
They parted and Cordelia groaned. "Time to go face the firing squad."  
  
"It won't be that bad." He told her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.  
  
"No, it'll just make me want to jump off the nearest building, pregnant or not."  
  
"Why did you say that? You shouldn't joke about things like that!" He was suddenly angry at her again.  
  
"Oh come on, you know it's the hormones. And you go and invite them here when I feel like crap and quite frankly look like crap!" She complained as she made her way down the stairs. "One word off them and they're going to get it"  
  
Angel smirked but said no more.  
  
They came into the lobby just as the Scoobies came through the front door. As soon as they saw Cordelia they stopped what they were doing and stared.  
  
"Hey, look." Xander said. "Someone knocked up Cordelia!"  
  
"Xander!" Anya scolded. "Cordelia must have played some part in it."  
  
Cordelia just looked towards the floor. She felt Angel's arm tighten around her shoulders.  
  
"Cordelia, what happened?" Willow asked.  
  
"Yeah, did one of your many conquests actually leave you a present?" Buffy muttered but Cordelia caught it and her head snapped up.  
  
"What?" She asked.  
  
"I was just wondering if you finally got something to show for sleeping around." Buffy said and folded her arms.  
  
"Hey, where do you get off talking about Cordy like that?" Gunn said.  
  
"Cordelia is pregnant with my baby." Angel told them.  
  
Buffy burst out laughing but then realised he was serious. "Oh my God. What the hell did you do to him?"  
  
Cordelia glared at her. "What exactly are you so shocked about?"  
  
"You getting yourself pregnant to Angel." She said. "Wait a minute, you must have done something, vampires can't have children."  
  
"Unless you didn't notice when we were in Sunnydale, Angel has a baby boy, Connor." Fred said.  
  
"You have to admit, Fred, it does seem a little peculiar." Giles said and wiped his glasses. "Maybe we could get settled in and then things could be explained."  
  
"That sounds like a good idea." Wesley said and decided to show their guests to their rooms himself. "If you would like to follow me."  
  
The Scoobies followed him up the stairs still looking very shocked, and in Buffy's case hurt.  
  
Cordelia sighed.  
  
"Yeah, I know. This is my entire fault." Angel said before she could say anything. "But we shouldn't care what they think or say, because we are happy and our family is happy and that's all that matter."  
  
"But they were so hurtful. And I know I deserve it because I was so mean to them in high school. But now I realise how I made them feel and it hurts. I can take it if I have to but I won't let anyone bitch about my baby. Our baby." She corrected.  
  
"You go girl." Gunn patted her shoulder as he made his way into the office.  
  
"Here." Fred said and gave her Connor. "He was missing his mommy."  
  
Cordelia took him and went to sit in Wes's office with him while Fred showed Angel some research she'd been doing. Gunn sat opposite her playing his computer game.  
  
When the Scoobies came back downstairs with Wesley, Cordelia stayed with Connor while Angel went out into the lobby to explain.  
  
"When we came to Sunnydale, Cordelia and I had been seeing each other for the past few months. Cordelia told me on the first night there that she was pregnant with my child." Angel began but was interrupted.  
  
"Have you had a DNA test?" Buffy asked.  
  
"No! Why the hell would I want to do that?" He asked her.  
  
"Because you can't have children which means that she must have slept with a human in order for her to get pregnant." Buffy told him.  
  
"I don't know how Cordelia got pregnant, just as I don't know how Darla did."  
  
Back in the office, Cordelia flinched at the sound of his ex's name, Connor's biological mother.  
  
"So Cordelia and you have been sleeping together for the past few months?" Xander asked. "Why are you not evil?"  
  
"She didn't give him a moment of perfect happiness." Buffy smirked.  
  
"I'm getting kinda bored here." Spike interrupted. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go get myself some LA action, want to come Niblet?" He asked Dawn. She nodded and they left.  
  
"We found a way around the curse." Angel told them impatiently. "Cordelia has demon in her now which means that she was able to bind my soul and keep it in my body."  
  
"You didn't come to me?" Buffy asked quietly. "I thought that when you found out that your soul was permanent you would come to me?"  
  
"Things change Buffy." Angel said gently, but not unkindly.  
  
"Obviously." She muttered. "You ditched me for Queen C. If you wanted a slut you could just have hired one, you know." She bitched.  
  
"That's mean!" Fred said. "You don't know Cordelia."  
  
"Angel!" Cordelia called out from the office. "Help!"  
  
He ran in and found her floating three feet off the floor. "It's okay baby, I'm here. What do you see?"  
  
She still had Connor in her arms and he began to cry as he realised how high off the floor he was. "There's a girl, she's running through the park. She's really scared. She has two demons on her tail, I think they're slime demons but I'm not sure."  
  
She floated back to the floor and comforted Connor who was still crying. "I'm sorry honey, I'm so sorry I scared you."  
  
She turned towards the door and saw all the Scoobies and the AI gang looking at her.  
  
"Okay, you've got about ten minutes, go!"  
  
She pushed past them and went up the stairs to lie down.  
  
Angel, Buffy and Gunn went to fight the demons, whiles Willow, Giles, Fred and Anya stayed in the lobby wondering if any of them should go and see Cordelia. Fred kept insisting that she wouldn't want to be fussed over and that Angel would go up when he came back.  
  
They came back covered in slime. Apparently the demons had been supercharged or something and had taken all of them to kill them. They all headed up the stairs together to get out of their ruined clothes. Buffy was thinking how well the fight had gone. She and Angel had slipped right back into their old fighting routine. Side by side. Although she had to admit he now took a more active part in the fight and not just watched her back. Angel was just thinking that he had to see how Cordelia was. 


	3. Chapter Three

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
He entered their bedroom and saw her body curled up on the bed with Connor nestled in her arms.  
  
"Hey." She called through the darkness when she heard the door open.  
  
"Hey." He replied and kissed her head as he sat on the bed next to her. "I'm glad to see you taking it easy for a change. Did the vision tire you out?"  
  
"Yeah, a bit. Only as much as usual. The baby's been kicking." She smiled. "It feels kinda weird."  
  
"Good weird or bad weird?" He asked and laid a hand on her stomach.  
  
"Oh, good weird. Definitely." She smiled and laid her hand over his. "Did you miss me?"  
  
"I always miss you." He promised. "Don't you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow?"  
  
"Yeah, you don't have to come with me though. I'll be okay, it's just routine. I think you should get out of those clothes before you make me sick." She said and crinkled her nose.  
  
He looked down at his ruined shirt and nodded. "I think Fred's ordering tacos if you want to come down." He said as he dressed. "I think the Scoobies are going out to a club."  
  
"Tell me when they go and I'll come down, I don't really want to face the inquisition again."  
  
He was about to try and change her mind but thought better of it. "I'll come up when they've gone." He promised and left.  
  
True to their word the Scoobies left the hotel and went out. Cordelia came back downstairs, leaving Connor in his crib with the monitor on.  
  
"Hey, do you hear that?" She called out as she came down the stairs. "Silence!"  
  
Fred laughed and Wes just smirked.  
  
"Do I smell tacos?" She asked and went into the office to get one without even waiting for a reply.  
  
She came out biting into one. "These taste good. Why didn't we go out tonight?"  
  
"We didn't think you'd want to." Angel told her sheepishly.  
  
"And you didn't think to ask? I'm not that much of a tyrant am I?" She asked.  
  
Gunn snorted and she swatted him as she walked past to sit on Angel's lap.  
  
"I don't think you're a tyrant." Fred offered, eating her own taco.  
  
"So why don't we go out? I sure I could scrub up a bit as not to embarrass you all." Cordelia said and looked around at them. "Where did Buffy and the gang go?"  
  
"I think they said they'd hit a few clubs on the east side." Gunn volunteered.  
  
"So that means no Caritas, right? So, we could go there for a couple of hours. I'm getting bored of being stuck inside." Cordelia complained and rubbed her bump.  
  
"It sounds okay to me." Wesley said. "Angel?"  
  
"If you're sure." He said to Cordelia and felt her nod.  
  
Cordelia, for once, thought carefully about what she was going to wear. She hadn't done that since she'd first come to LA. On one hand, she wanted to be comfortable, or as comfortable as she could be with a huge bump stuck on her front. On the other hand, she wanted to look good for a change. For the past few months she'd lived in jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts. She didn't have any 'proper' maternity clothes. She was lucky that all her trousers were low riders and fit under her bump. All her tops, or at least most of them, were stretchy and so still fit. She stood looking at her wardrobe for about ten minutes selecting and then rejecting certain items before selecting a pair of extra low riding black leather pants that would fit under her bump and a red baggy shirt. She slipped her feet into a pair of black loafers and then applied a little makeup.  
  
Angel entered the room just as she finished putting on her lipstick. She turned around on the chair she was sat on. "Are you nearly..?"  
  
The words he was about to say faded as he saw her. "Wow."  
  
She smiled at him and then went to wrap her arms around his neck. "You like?" He showed her how much he liked by nuzzling her neck and running kisses down her collarbone.  
  
"Stop." She said regretfully. "We have to go. And don't you know that you shouldn't molester pregnant women?" She teased.  
  
"Hey, this is why you ended up pregnant in the first place!" He growled.  
  
Cordelia laughed and took his hand to lead him downstairs.  
  
"Oh Cordelia!" Fred gasped. "You look gorgeous."  
  
"You sound surprised?" Cordelia grinned.  
  
Angel took her hand and they headed out to the car, taking Connor with them.  
  
"Angel cakes!" Lorne greeted. "You know, there's only your nipper I'd allow in here! Princess!" Lorne turned towards Cordelia. "You are looking hot!"  
  
Cordelia smiled shyly and sat down on the chair Angel pulled out for her. "Thanks Lorne. Can I get some water?"  
  
Lorne nodded and gave orders to the waiter for their drinks. They sat on a round table near the bar; Connor was in his carry cot on the floor in between Cordelia and Angel.  
  
"He's kinda good." Gunn said to Fred, pointing to the demon on the stage.  
  
"He's kinda screwed." Lorne said as he put their drinks down on the table. "He's got a couple of bounty hunters on his tail; he killed a little girl out in Montana a few months back. They'll catch him sometime next week. I'm only letting him in because he's friends with my bar man." He explained.  
  
Cordelia felt Angel's hand squeeze her knee. "I know." She whispered. Knowing exactly what he was thinking. There were some sick people in the world, most of them inhuman.  
  
"Angel?" Fred asked. "Are you going to sing?"  
  
The whole gang cracked up, remembering the last time Angel sang at Caritas.  
  
"Hey, it wasn't that bad." He complained.  
  
"Angel, I'm afraid it was." Wesley argued and sipped at his drink.  
  
"Let's give Barry a break tonight, shall we?" Lorne said and then patted Angel on the shoulder before going to talk to the demon who had been singing.  
  
"I wasn't that bad!" Angel called out to Lorne's back as he walked away.  
  
"What wasn't so bad?" A female voice asked.  
  
Cordelia, Angel and Wesley knew instantly who it was before turning around, Fred and Gunn had to look. Gunn almost groaned when he saw the rest of the Scoobies stood behind. He and Xander didn't see eye to eye and the slayer just pissed him off in general with the whole Angel good Cordy bad thing.  
  
"Angel's singing." Fred said shyly.  
  
"Angel sings, wow." Xander said. "The next thing you'll be trying to tell us is that he dances to the conga every morning."  
  
Buffy pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat down on it next to Angel and Connor, separating him from Cordelia. The rest of the Scoobies pulled up chairs to the table.  
  
"So, Buffy." Cordelia said brightly. "What are you doing here? I thought you were hitting the east side of town?"  
  
"Oh we were, until someone told us that there was a great karaoke bar here run by a mind reading demon. We thought it might be fun."  
  
"The demon is called Lorne and you met him in Sunnydale." Angel said and shot a glance at a very pissed off looking Cordelia.  
  
"This is Lorne's club?" Willow asked. "I was hoping to see him while we were here. He was nice."  
  
"The green man with the horns?" Anya asked Willow. When she nodded she began to explain how she'd once had to grant a wish to a woman who wanted her husband to look just like Lorne, as punishment for him always looking in the mirror and calling her ugly.  
  
"Anya used to be a vengeance demon." Willow told Fred and Gunn, unsure if they knew.  
  
"Don't we kill them anymore?" He asked Cordy and Wes. They both just laughed, remembering Harmony.  
  
Connor began to cry and Cordelia's first instinct was to go to him.  
  
"Can I get him?" Buffy asked Angel.  
  
He looked straight at Cordelia but she just sat back down in her chair with her arms folded across the top of her bump.  
  
Before he could say anything she'd picked him up and had placed him in her arms.  
  
"Aren't you the sweetest little baby?" She cooed.  
  
Cordelia jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You okay kitten?" Lorne asked. "Want to help me pick some music?"  
  
She nodded gratefully and followed him across the bar to where he kept all the CD's.  
  
"He loves you Princess." He told her.  
  
"Oh, I know that. It's not him I'm worried about, it's her." She cast a glance in their direction. "It's just weird being with her again. I guess it hurts. And seeing her with Connor, it feels like my insides are being ripped out."  
  
"He'll always come back to you. She's in his past. I sense confusion around her. She doesn't know what she wants and she wants things to be like they were. She needs to find out that they can't be and that she needs to move on." Lorne examined a CD cover as he spoke.  
  
"I guess that's what dying does to you." Cordelia mused. "Of course, it couldn't have made her want to go to Mexico or even Germany. Germany could be nice, and far away."  
  
Lorne chuckled. "Maybe this could be a good song." He held up the CD single 'Love is a Battlefield'.  
  
"Don't even joke about it." She warned and then gave him a quick hug before going to the ladies' room.  
  
She applied a little more lipstick and mascara and then went back to the table.  
  
"What did I miss?" She asked brightly and took a sip of her water.  
  
"We were just telling stories about when we were in high school." Anya said.  
  
"Can you remember when that invisible girl came after you because you were mean to her?" Buffy said to Cordelia as she bounced Connor on her knee.  
  
"Yes I do, and he doesn't like to be bounced." She replied tightly. "Can you remember when you were dumped by Scott for being too weird?"  
  
Buffy frowned but stopped bouncing Connor. He started clapping his hands and laughing at Cordelia. She smiled at him and waved.  
  
"I was never weird." Buffy argued.  
  
"And I was a bitch." Cordelia said and held out her arms for Connor. Buffy grudgingly handed him over.  
  
"So, you didn't get along in high school?" Dawn asked them both.  
  
"No." They both said together.  
  
"Finally." Spike said. "Something you two agree on. Now, can we talk about something more interesting?"  
  
Cordelia held Connor close to her and whispered in his ear causing him to laugh. He clutched her shirt in his tiny hands.  
  
Angel looked on, wishing that he could just take them in his arms and hold them there forever. He caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back.  
  
They left the club at about eleven. Cordelia and Connor were wiped and even Spike looked a little tired. Angel wrapped an arm around Cordelia as they walked to the car, she was half asleep.  
  
"I think I might go straight to bed when I get in." She yawned.  
  
"Oh, you think?" He teased. "I think you'll be lucky if you actually make it to the bed. Although once you get in you won't be leaving in a while."  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"You really expect to go out looking like that and not expect a reaction from me?" He asked, half mocking.  
  
"Not really." She smiled; it seemed the outfit had done its job.  
  
He helped her get into the car with Connor and then waited while the others climbed in the back before getting in and driving home.  
  
Cordelia was out like a light before Angel even had the chance to put Connor in his crib and climb out of bed. She didn't even wake when Connor cried. Angel didn't mind seeing to him, as long as Cordelia got the sleep that she needed.  
  
He was awake before her in the morning and he regretted having to wake her for her doctor's appointment. She smiled sleepily and opened an eye.  
  
"I guess I was pretty tired."  
  
"Pretty tired? You snored all night!"  
  
"I do not snore!" She squealed and hit him with a pillow.  
  
He caught it and pinned her arms above her head before kissing her.  
  
He let her arms go and she wrapped them around his neck, pulling him towards her.  
  
Buffy woke up to a pounding head; she shouldn't have drunk all that she did last night. She rolled over and saw Spike laid in the bed next to her. She looked down and realised that she was naked. She pulled the sheet around her and sat up abruptly. Not again, she pleaded silently, I put an end to this freak show back in Sunnydale. She looked around and saw that she was in his room. She climbed out of the bed silently and slipped herself back into her clothes and snuck out of the room. Only then did Spike open his eyes. 


	4. Chapter Four

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Everyone was downstairs when Cordelia and Angel came down with Connor. They'd gotten a little carried away upstairs. Dawn was planning on going out to meet her father and was trying to get Buffy to go too, but she was sticking firm to going shopping with Willow and Anya instead. Giles was planning to go to a couple of museums to which he got groans from Xander and Dawn. Wesley offered to go with him and Giles accepted. Fred and Gunn were planning on closing a few urgent cases, which left Angel and Spike.  
  
Cordelia said goodbye to Angel and promised to come straight home after the appointment. She kissed Connor on the forehead and then left. Everyone else who was leaving also left.  
  
Angel eyes Spike warily. "You smell like Buffy." He accused.  
  
"So what?" Spike said and circled him. "You have your chit, surely I deserve mine."  
  
"You and Buffy?" He asked incredulously. "Since when?"  
  
"Since she came back." He boasted. "Been on and off for a few weeks now."  
  
"If you hurt her." He threatened.  
  
"Peaches, you need to chill out. I'm not going to hurt her." Spike looked offended.  
  
"If she's got a thing for you then why does she keep going on about the whole me and her thing?" Angel asked and folded his arms.  
  
"That, I don't know." Spike looked sad for a moment and then offered to do some training downstairs.  
  
"Sure." Angel agreed and went to the weapons cabinet.  
  
Cordelia was the last to arrive back at the hotel. She came in and found everyone sat in the lobby with sandwiches and pastries. Lorne was there too. Angel was instantly on his feet. "Well, what did he say?"  
  
"The baby is fine, it's a little small but that's nothing to worry about. He's given me some more vitamins and some more folic acid. I tried to explain to him that it tasted disgusting but he wouldn't listen. I guess it's good for baby. He also told me whether it was a boy or a girl." She bit her lip and looked for his reaction.  
  
"You found out?" She nodded. "Well?"  
  
"We're having a girl." She said and he grinned.  
  
"A girl?" She nodded and he picked her up and twirled her around, both of them laughing.  
  
"Did someone just say a girl?" Gunn asked.  
  
Angel put Cordelia down and answered. "Yeah, we're having a girl."  
  
Fred jumped up to hug them both and Wes shook Angel's hand. Spike congratulated them on a 'job well done'.  
  
Buffy looked down and put her sandwich on the table, unable to eat anymore. She swallowed what was in her mouth and then almost choked on her soda.  
  
"Congratulations." She murmured and then left the lobby and went outside. Willow followed, sensing she needed to talk or vent or need someone to patch up her hand when she'd done hitting the wall.  
  
Cordelia's eyes followed her for a moment but then she concentrated on Angel's happy face. "I got a picture too." She pulled it out of her bag to show him. The AI gang crowded round to look, even Giles got up off the couch to take a look. The curiosity even got the better of Anya, who leaned over Giles' shoulder in order to look. Dawn just sat on the couch next to Spike pretending not to be interested, in sister solidarity.  
  
"I think it's wrong." Dawn suddenly said.  
  
"What's wrong Dawn?" Cordelia said, looking a little hurt.  
  
"That you have to rub it in Buffy's face all the time." She shouted. "She came here to get Angel back and you just show off all the time that you've got him and she hasn't. I mean, you're all happy and everything and you don't notice how unhappy she is. How selfish can you be?"  
  
Before Cordelia or Angel could answer Dawn ran upstairs to her room and they heard the door slam shut behind her. Spike got up to follow.  
  
"Are we selfish?" Cordelia asked Angel, looking slightly worried and confused.  
  
"Don't take offence, Cordelia." Giles said and cleaned his glasses. "Buffy has been through a hard time and her way of coping was to take it out on everyone. I believe she is still being used to being alive and is trying to find her place in the world again. The best part of her life was when she was with you, Angel, and she thinks that if she can be with you again, she can be happy."  
  
Cordelia nodded and Angel just stayed silent.  
  
"I think I'm going to see how Buffy is doing." Xander said and left the hotel.  
  
"Don't let them put a damper on things, girl." Lorne said.  
  
"Yeah, you should celebrate." Fred told her.  
  
"Yeah, celebrate with a glass of water and a sit down whilst trying to avoid an angry slayer." She said and let herself fall back onto the sofa.  
  
"Come on baby." Angel sat down next to her and took her hand. "I know you're frustrated and it's my fault because I invited them here but maybe we could get away from them for a while and go out for dinner or something?" He suggested.  
  
"I'd like that. "She said.  
  
He kissed her cheek. "I love you."  
  
He booked the restaurant for eight and sent Cordelia up for a hot bath at six. He joined her at six thirty and they made love under the bubbles. He let her lay on him afterwards, in between his legs, so he could hold her bump in his hands.  
  
"She's kicking." She told him and moved his hands so he could feel.  
  
"It's amazing." He admitted. "I mean, I've seen some amazing things, but this beats them all."  
  
"You had Connor. You saw Darla pregnant."  
  
"That wasn't the same. I didn't love Darla, I love you. I didn't get the chance to see Connor grow inside of her; I can see our baby grow. Connor is special because he was prophesised, our baby is special because she's a miracle and she's made from us."  
  
Cordelia smiled and then turned to kiss him with tears in her eyes.  
  
"You shouldn't say things like that to pregnant women unless you want to see tears."  
  
He laughed.  
  
When they arrived back from their meal, everyone was once again sat in the lobby.  
  
Although Lorne had gone to open Caritas. Dinner had been perfect, very romantic and Cordy had been sad to leave. "I'm not taking any crap." She warned before they went in the hotel doors.  
  
"I didn't expect you to." He replied and held the door open for her.  
  
"Hey." Cordelia greeted everyone with a smile. "What have you been up to?"  
  
"Nothing much." Wes replied. "We were thinking about ordering a pizza. How was dinner?"  
  
"Perfect." Angel told him and watched as Cordelia went to say hello to Connor, who was sat playing on the floor with Willow and Giles.  
  
"I'm glad." Wes smiled.  
  
"Have we got any cases?" Cordelia asked, holding on to Connor as he tried to stand up and wobble his way to her.  
  
"None that need to be done now." Gunn said. "Relax, girl, we can handle the business without you."  
  
He grinned at her and she had to smile back. "I've got to get out of these clothes." She said and climbed up, letting Connor wobble his way to Giles. "I'll be back down in a minute."  
  
Angel watched her go up the stairs, she looked tired, half demon or not, the baby was taking it out of her.  
  
"She'll be okay, you know." Buffy said scornfully. "You don't need to watch her all the time. She is a grown woman."  
  
Angel frowned. "She is pregnant. I should be worried."  
  
She shrugged and leaned her head on Xander's shoulder.  
  
"What are you up to for the rest of the night?" Angel asked.  
  
"We were thinking about ordering a pizza." Xander said, repeating what Wes had said earlier.  
  
"But then they all decided that pizza in LA is nothing like pizza in Sunnydale. So now I want sex." Anya said.  
  
Xander blushed and Fred giggled at the forward ex demon.  
  
"Lilah Morgan please." The lawyer from Wolfram and Hart said into the phone. "Lilah, great to talk to you. I've got news. There's a slayer in town. Not the one from before. The one that made Angel lose his soul. There's some chemistry there. So, I'm thinking, maybe we could cast a little spell on the slayer, make her want him, make him lose him soul and voila, evil Angel."  
  
"What about the seer?"  
  
"Forget about the seer." He argued.  
  
"She's carrying his child. The one that the Powers That Be decided to give to him as a reward. He's not going to go for the slayer when he's in love with the seer." Lilah knew Angel.  
  
"So, we cast a spell on him too." Gavin Park argued.  
  
"He'd catch on, and there's no guarantee it would work on him."  
  
"It's worth a shot."  
  
"Okay, try it, but I never talked to you." She hung up the phone. Maybe, just maybe, it would work, she mused. 


	5. Chapter Five

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia came back down the stairs wearing a pair of Angel's grey sweats and a cream sweatshirt. She'd pulled her hair back into a pony tail and scrubbed her face clean of makeup. Her natural beauty was astounding.  
  
She went straight back over to where Connor was playing. "Hey little man, don't you know it's past your bedtime?"  
  
He gurgled and laughed in response.  
  
"Yeah, I know, it's past my bedtime too. Let me go make us some hot chocolate, okay, and then I'll take you upstairs with me."  
  
"I'll make it for you." Angel offered and received a winning smile in response.  
  
"Have you been shopping recently?" Buffy asked Cordelia.  
  
"Not recently, why?" She asked warily.  
  
"I was just wondering if you thought about buying yourself some proper pyjamas or a night shirt." Buffy commented innocently.  
  
"I find these more comfortable, what with being pregnant and all."  
  
"But surely you don't really know whether or not another woman has worn them." Buffy said, once again innocently. "You know men today."  
  
Cordelia flushed and looked down, she knew what Buffy was implying and it was true, she could have worn them when she and Angel were seeing each other. "Maybe so, but at least I know I'm the only woman wearing them now. Angel's very selective about who he lets wear his clothes. And at least I know that they've been washed, no offence."  
  
"Oh, so you're his maid as well as the girl he knocked up." Buffy snapped her fingers as if everything had suddenly been revealed.  
  
Cordelia looked at Buffy and saw the venom in her eyes. "I'm going to bed."  
  
She picked Connor up and went upstairs murmuring goodnight to Fred, Gunn and Wes as she went past them.  
  
"That was out of line Buffy." Angel said from the doorway where he'd been listening.  
  
"I know you're finding it hard that me and Cordelia are together but you don't have to be mean to her."  
  
"Oh yeah, because she was never mean to me. Queen C never made a snide remark in her whole life." She said sarcastically.  
  
"Okay, I think I'm going to go see what's going on at that Karaoke Bar." Spike said and stood up. "They had nice blood."  
  
The rest of the Scoobies got up and went with him except for Giles. He sat and watched the slayer.  
  
"That was then, this is now." Wesley added.  
  
"I don't care, you all keep saying that but I don't care! Angel and I are meant to be together. Whether it's the dying or just a feeling but I know it's true." She raised her voice slightly in desperation.  
  
"You've been through a lot Buffy, and wanting to go back to your past is understandable, but Angel has moved on and you had too, before you died." Giles told her gently.  
  
"No, she's right." Angel said. "I want her. I love her."  
  
Buffy turned to him. "I knew you could feel it too. Kiss me."  
  
Angel was kissing her within seconds. His arms wrapped around her and he kissed her like he hadn't done in three years.  
  
The AI gang looked on in shock, as did Giles.  
  
From the top of the stairs, Cordelia looked on in sadness. 


	6. Chapter Six

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
"Angel! Stop that at once!" Wes ordered sternly.  
  
He pulled away from Buffy but didn't let her go.  
  
"What do you think you are doing?" He asked.  
  
"Kissing Cordelia." He looked towards the woman he had been kissing and then recoiled. "You're not Cordelia."  
  
"Angel, man, what's going on with you?" Gunn asked.  
  
"Angel looked around in confusion. "She was Cordelia."  
  
"That's Buffy." Giles stated the obvious.  
  
"I know, but she wasn't, she was Cordelia. That's why I kissed her." He rubbed at his mouth with the back of his hand. "You did something!" He accused Buffy and pointed a finger at her.  
  
"I didn't do anything honey. You did exactly what you wanted to do." Se purred and tried to kiss him again.  
  
Giles grabbed her arm and held her. "There's certainly something going on here for you to see Cordelia when you are looking at Buffy."  
  
Cordelia came running down the stairs, dressed again in cream pants and a red jumper with a bag in her hand.  
  
"Cor?" Angel ran up to her, confused. "What are you doing?" He touched her arm.  
  
She pulled away from him and glared at him. "Get the hell off of me!"  
  
She pushed past him and headed for the door.  
  
"Did you see.?" Angel asked as he watched her retreating back. "You can't leave!"  
  
She spun back around. Fred and Wes were looking worried and Gunn just looked startled. "I can leave and I am, and you!" She turned to Buffy. "Are the biggest slag I ever saw!" She punched Buffy square in the nose and ran out of the hotel before the tears could fall.  
  
"You performed an imitation spell! You idiot!" Lilah shouted down the phone at Gavin. "That won't last on a vampire for any longer than four seconds, at the most! There was no way it would have given Angel a moment of perfect happiness!"  
  
She slammed the phone down angrily and bit on one of her perfectly manicured nail. There was no way this was coming back on her, no way.  
  
Cordelia ran crying down the path. She heard someone following her and ran faster.  
  
"Cordelia! Wait!" Angel shouted after her as she ran towards the road.  
  
"Why should I?" She screamed back and spun around. "I saw you Angel, you were kissing her and you were enjoying it! I can't believe I ever thought I could be good enough for you!"  
  
As if it happened in slow motion, she took a step backwards. Unbeknownst to her it was into the road. The car hit her from behind and flung her in the air. The landed on the hood of the car and then fell from it sideways to land on the road in a heap.  
  
"Cordelia!" Angel shouted.  
  
He ran across to her lifeless form and felt for a pulse. Thank god, he thought. Hearing the commotion outside, the gang came running outside. Seeing Cordelia on the floor they stopped dead. Fred put her hand to her mouth to quieten the sob that was about to escape. Wes came to kneel next to Angel.  
  
"Gunn, call an ambulance!" He ordered. "Quickly!"  
  
"Oh God, Cordy." He murmured and felt tears spring into his own eyes.  
  
Her face was pale and scratched where the gravel had scraped against it when she fell. Looking down her body, Wes saw a pool of blood beginning to soak through her pants.  
  
"Angel, the baby." He saw Angel's eyes drift downwards and then close briefly.  
  
"It will be fine. Everything will be fine." He said, praying that it would be true. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia woke up and flinched against the harsh hospital lights. Her hand drifted towards her abdomen and she let out a cry when she felt the flatness of it. She tried to move her head but found it difficult. She lay there instead, letting tears trickle from her eyes and down her cheeks. She'd lost the baby, she'd let her baby get killed. Images of Buffy and Angel kissing flashed into her mind painfully. She tried to blink away the tears and then tried to wipe them away with her hands. She realised then that her hand was in someone else's. She recognised the silver ring instantly as Angel's and pulled her hand away.  
  
The movement woke the sleeping Angel and he looked at her bruised face. Her eyes were filled with pain and sadness. "God Cordy, I thought I'd lost you."  
  
"I'm still here."  
  
Her eyes were lowered and she wouldn't look at him.  
  
"Do you want to see the baby?"  
  
Her eyes flew up and looked at him. "What?"  
  
"The doctors thought that the impact of the car was making you lose the baby. They performed a caesarean at the last minute and saved her. She looks just like you."  
  
Angel saw her eyes fill with tears again.  
  
"I thought I'd lost her." She admitted. "Can I see her?"  
  
He nodded and left the room.  
  
She wiped her eyes again and shuffled up the bed slightly.  
  
He came back into the room with a tiny baby in his arms. He placed her in her arms ever so gently and watched as she nestled into her breast. "Hello." She whispered. "I'm your mommy."  
  
She watched the baby's eyes flutter open and shut in amazement. "Is she okay? I mean, she was born so early."  
  
"She has to stop in an incubator for a while but other than that she's fine. It's you we've been worried about. The doctor said he would come in and see you in a few minutes." Angel stood back to let Cordelia bond with the baby.  
  
"Am I okay to hold her?" He nodded. "What's wrong with me?"  
  
"Head trauma. And a little bruising around your stomach from where you were hit. It looks like you're fine though."  
  
She nodded. "Get out."  
  
"What?" He looked at her confused.  
  
"Get out. My head trauma is not that bad so that I can't remember why I was running away from you, now get out." She ordered.  
  
He looked at her for a moment and then complied sadly.  
  
The AI gang and Giles were sat in the hallway. "How is she?" Wesley spoke for them all.  
  
He'd passed them on the way to getting the baby and told them that she was awake.  
  
"She's okay. I mean, her injuries are okay. She's hurt and mad. She thought she'd lost the baby."  
  
"Poor Cordy." Fred exclaimed. "She thought that you'd been cheating on her, she'd lost her baby as well as nearly been killed by a car."  
  
"Can we see her?" Gunn asked.  
  
"I don't know. The doctor said he was going to call round. She told me to get out." He sat down in one of the chairs and ran a hand through his hair. "What am I going to do?"  
  
"Stay here and try to see her. I'll go back to the hotel and research what could have happened to you in the first place for you to have seen Cordelia when you were looking at Buffy. I'll sort this." Giles promised and left.  
  
"Do you want one of us to try and talk to her?" Wesley asked.  
  
Angel just shook his head "I'll go in in a little while."  
  
"You know honey." Cordelia said to her baby. "It's just you and me now. I know you thought you'd have a mommy and a daddy and an older brother but it looks like that isn't going to work out. Bu mommy loves you very much and she'll never let anything hurt you. I love you baby girl." She kissed her sleeping daughter's head and then closed her eyes. Angel watched from the doorway sadly.  
  
"Cor, we have to talk." He said and came into the room.  
  
"Talk to Buffy." She told him sharply without opening her eyes.  
  
"I don't want to talk to her; I want to talk to you." He said stubbornly and sat down in the chair beside her bed. "Someone cast a spell on me. It made me see you when I was looking at Buffy. That's why I kissed her, I was kissing you."  
  
She opened her eyes and looked at him. For a second there was a glimmer of hope in them but the mask quickly fell again. "Is that what you're going to tell me every time you kiss her? Make up some excuse to tell the bit on the side while you make out with the love of your life? I don't need crap from you Angel; from now on we're over. There's going to be no more lies because you're going to have no one to tell them to."  
  
"Cor, I love you. I love you so much and I need you to believe me. We were meant to be. Why else do you think the powers gave you the power to bind my soul when we make love? I don't love Buffy, I love you." His voice broke with emotion.  
  
"Leave me alone for a few days, all of you. I need some time alone." She told him softly, tears in her eyes. "You can come and see the baby but leave me."  
  
He nodded slowly and sadly, sensing her pain and betrayed feeling. "Call me when they let you go and I'll come and pick you up."  
  
He left the room and walked straight to the car, leaving the AI gang wondering what the hell was going on. They followed silently.  
  
"How did it go?" Giles asked as they came into the hotel.  
  
"She wants to be left alone." Angel told him. "She doesn't want me anywhere near her."  
  
"She feels betrayed Angel." The ex watcher said and cleaned his glasses. "It's understandable that she wants to be left alone to grieve. She loves you."  
  
"If she loved me then she'd believe me." He growled.  
  
"Be fair!" Giles protested. "She saw you kissing your ex girlfriend, the woman you loved for years of your life. Granted, you being a vampire and everything, it doesn't seem that long. But for Cordelia it was a long time. It's got to be hard for her to live in Buffy's shadow. She'll come around. We'll find some proof that a spell was cast on  
  
you and then approach her to tell her." He said nothing but Giles felt that his words had sunk in.  
  
Cordelia was released from hospital after a week, because she'd had a caesarean.  
  
Otherwise she'd have been out after a couple of days. The doctor had given her the all clear for her injuries. She had a slight bruise on her head and a couple on her stomach but that was all. True to their word, no-one had visited her, but they had all come to see the baby that she had named Ashleigh. Angel had said he had liked the name so she had named her without asking him. She assumed that he didn't object because he hadn't been to her to complain about it.  
  
She hailed a cab outside the hospital that took her to the hotel. She stood outside, carry cot in hand with a bag over her shoulder. She took a deep breath. She opened the door with her free hand and walked in.  
  
Willow, Giles and the AI gang were congregating around the counter. They all turned to look at her as she walked in. Angel came around the counter to stand in front of her at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"Hi." He said and looked down to the baby and then back up to her.  
  
"Hi." She replied simply. "Look, I know a lot has happened between us but I have nowhere else to go. If you could let me stop here for a few days then I'll find myself somewhere more permanent."  
  
He nodded. "I cleaned out a room for you. On the other side of Connor's. Stay as long as you want. I'll show you."  
  
"It's okay, I'll find it." She said hastily, anxious to be left alone with him and aware of the faces peering at her from behind him. "But, thanks."  
  
She smiled weakly and then made her way upstairs while he watched her.  
  
"Do you want me to tell her what we've found out so far?" Giles asked from his perch on Angel's desk.  
  
He shook his head and turned to face them. "No, I'll tell her when I've been to Wolfram and Hart tonight. She deserves the full story." 


	8. Chapter Eight

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia cradled the sleeping Ashleigh to her as she sat on the bed. Angel had cleaned the room up pretty good. He'd brought in the crib that had previously been in Connor's room ready for her. She put Ashleigh in it and then tiptoed next door to Connor's room. She opened it slightly and peered in. When she saw no-one was there she went in. He was sleeping soundly. He stroked his cheek and kissed him and then left.  
  
She went back to her room and then lay down on the bed to sleep.  
  
Angel burst in Lilah's office.  
  
"An imitation spell." He stated. "You're losing your touch."  
  
"Don't for on minute think that I had anything to do with that." She warned and held up her hand.  
  
"So, you're not denying it, you had something to do with it." Angel caught her out.  
  
She cursed. "I told them not to."  
  
"If Cordelia does not come back then I am holding you responsible and I will kill you." He threatened. "If anything happens to my baby because of the spell then I will kill you. Do you understand me?"  
  
She nodded mutely. A threat coming from the only man, or rather vampire, that she knew wanted her head was a pretty big thing.  
  
He flew out of the office, duster flying and took out two security guards in one go.  
  
"Cordelia." He knocked on the door gently.  
  
There was no answer. He suspected that she was still awake but he didn't want to annoy her anymore.  
  
I'll just have to wait while the morning, he thought.  
  
He went in to check on Connor before he went to bed. Work was quiet so the others had left early, leaving only him and Cordelia in the hotel. Before their argument they'd have taken advantage of the situation, but not now. He wrapped the blanket around him a little tighter and then caught a sound in the next room. He wanted to respect her privacy but he did have vampire hearing. He went a little closer to the wall and listened a little harder. She was crying, he could hear her sniffing and the occasional sob.  
  
He left Connor's room and went back to her door.  
  
"I know you're awake and I'm coming in." He announced through the door and then proceeded to do just that.  
  
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark room. He could see a small shape curled up on the large bed and his heart ached to hold her.  
  
"Cordy, please talk to me." He pleaded and moved closer.  
  
"There's nothing to talk about." She said her voice husky from crying.  
  
"I know you think that I kissed Buffy and in a way I suppose I did. But Giles and Wes have been researching and I went to Wolfram and Hart to find out what was going on. They cast a spell on me so that Buffy looked like you. So when I kissed her I thought I was kissing you." He edged closer to the bed and sat down.  
  
"Why would they do that?"  
  
"They've been spying on us. And researching. They saw Buffy and found out that it was her that made me lose my soul and become Angelus. It was an attempt for me to become evil."  
  
"Why didn't it work?" She sat up a little.  
  
"Because I'm a vampire and the spell didn't last long enough on me for me to have a moment of pure happiness. They thought that it was Buffy that gives me that moment. They didn't research enough to know that that wouldn't happen. It's you that makes me happy and if there wasn't a loophole in the curse then I would have been Angelus years ago!"  
  
He heard her heart start to race and she blushed, although he couldn't see.  
  
"So, you really don't want to get back with Buffy? Did they cast a spell on her too so that she would like you too?" She asked him and moved her head to look at him.  
  
"No, I don't want to get back with Buffy. I love you." He took her hand in his and threaded his fingers with hers. "But they didn't cast a spell on her. She kissed me back because she wanted to." She pulled her hand away but he grabbed it back. "But there's nothing to worry about, I'd never have kissed her if she was her. I only kissed her because she was you. She can try all she wants but I am yours."  
  
She burst into tears.  
  
"Hey, hey, there's no need to cry." He soothed and pulled her into his arms, lifting her up into a sitting position.  
  
"I thought I'd lost you, and I love you so much!" She sobbed. "I thought seeing you with her would kill me and it didn't and I just felt worse and worse thinking about what would happen now. Would you let me see Connor? Would you want to see Ashleigh? Would I have to move away? Would I still have a job?"  
  
He cut her off by kissing her. They broke apart breathless, which was saying something as he didn't breathe.  
  
He wiped away her tears and kissed her forehead. "Are we okay?"  
  
She nodded and wrapped her arms around his back for a hug.  
  
Right on cue Ashleigh began to cry. Angel jumped up eagerly to pick her up. Cordelia smiled as she watched him with his new baby.  
  
He brought her back to bed with him and sat down next to her. "Have you been breastfeeding?" He asked, almost shyly.  
  
She nodded and then took her from him. Angel watched her breastfeed their baby and felt tears well up in his eyes. It felt good to be with them.  
  
"That has got to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." He stated and stroked the baby's cheek.  
  
She snorted. "I can think of more attractive things. Like the scar on my stomach, for instance." She said sarcastically.  
  
"Does it hurt much?" He asked, concerned.  
  
"Not really, I prefer it than the other way she could have come out."  
  
He laughed but then sobered. "You could have lost her though. I could have lost both of you. That car was travelling pretty fast."  
  
"Well, you know me; I had to get away from you somehow!" She smirked. "And obviously I chose the most dramatic way possible. You know what makes the best point?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I got to punch the slayer!" She laughed and then stood up to put Ashleigh back in her crib. She turned to look at him.  
  
"Come here." He said and held out his arms to her.  
  
She lay down net to him and pulled the covers over them both. He tightened his arms around her and they fell asleep.  
  
Angel moved Ashleigh's crib into Connor's room the next morning while she took a shower in their room. She dressed in a pale summer dress that accented her tan but didn't aggravate her stitches.  
  
"Are you ready to go downstairs?" He asked her when she re-emerged.  
  
"You take Connor, I'll take Ash." She said brightly and picked her up. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
The AI gang were sat around the counters. The Scoobies had made themselves scarce after being told that Cordelia was back. Giles mentioned something about rare book shops on the other side of town, normally Wes would have been interested but he wanted to see Cordelia more. Spike went out through the sewers with Dawn and the other girls and Xander went shopping.  
  
Cordelia came down the stairs first with Ashleigh in her arms. Angel followed with Connor. The gang all turned to look at her.  
  
"Hi guys." She said shyly.  
  
Wesley smiled and came to hug her gently, not wanting to squash the baby. "It's good to have you home."  
  
She smiled. "Thanks Wes. Do you want to hold her?"  
  
He nodded eagerly and took her off Cordelia.  
  
Fred came up to hug her then, followed by Gunn and then Lorne. "You're looking fabulous doll."  
  
Angel came to stand behind her and put an arm around her shoulders. The gang all crowded around Wes to look at the baby.  
  
"She's so tiny." Fred exclaimed.  
  
"I take it you two sorted everything out?" Gunn asked.  
  
Angel nodded. "Completely sorted out."  
  
"We're good." Cordelia grinned.  
  
She looked up and Angel and he kissed her.  
  
"Aww, aren't they sweet!" Gunn teased and Angel instantly frowned.  
  
Cordelia took Connor off Angel and went to sit down at her desk. "What's happening then?"  
  
"Nothing really." Fred replied. ""We've got a case at the moment where demons are stealing artefacts from the History Museum. We got a tip off that they'll be stealing a sceptre two weeks from now so we're going to be staking it out to catch them."  
  
"What kind of demons?" She asked and accessed the file on the computer.  
  
"Shirad." Wes answered, not looking up from the baby.  
  
"What are they stealing the stuff for?" She asked and started to scan the notes.  
  
"To start a ritual called the Rumptar. It will make the demon in question become invincible. So we don't want that to happen. They still have three more artefacts to collect so we're ahead of it." Fred explained.  
  
"Great." She murmured as she read the text on the screen. "What time do we leave?"  
  
"We?" Angel asked incredulously. "You are not going!"  
  
Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at him.  
  
"Oh oh." Gunn said under his breath. "Here we go again."  
  
"Why am I not going?"  
  
"You've just had a baby." He said, as if she were stupid.  
  
"Yeah, and? Back in your day women had children and then went back to work an hour later. Child birth is a lot easier now than it was then and besides, I didn't technically give birth!" She argued.  
  
"No, you go knocked over by a moving vehicle and then had a serious operation!" He shouted.  
  
"Angel, honey, you know I never listen to you anyway so why are we arguing?" She said sweetly.  
  
Lorne snickered and Angel spun around to start on him but he just held up his hands in peace.  
  
"Come on bro'." Gunn said to him. "You know Barbie's right!"  
  
He frowned but didn't reply. He turned back to Cordelia but she'd gone into the kitchen to get Connor some food and his bottle.  
  
He threw up his hands. "I give up!"  
  
Giles, Buffy, Willow and Xander arrived back around five o clock. Cordelia was sat at her desk with Ashleigh reading the new Stephen King novel. She'd tried to stop reading them, claiming that she had enough excitement in her life, but every time a new one came out she fond herself buying it. Connor was playing in his playpen on the floor next to her. Wes was in his office on the phone to his father in England Fred was making a salad in the kitchen, trying to be domestic and Angel and Gunn were training in the basement with Lorne watching over them and keeping a score. They all stood behind the counter looking at her awkwardly until she looked up at them. Giles took the initiative and came to kiss her on the cheek and admire Ashleigh. Willow came to say hello to her but Buffy and Xander kept their distance and just nodded hello to her.  
  
Cordelia said very little and was grateful when they left her to her book so they could go change and shower upstairs. After a little while Ashleigh stirred and wanted feeding so she went into the kitchen to breastfeed her. It was then that Gunn walked in. He stumbled when he saw what she was doing and began stuttering and blushing.  
  
Cordelia took delight in the black man's discomfort.  
  
"It's okay Gunn." She told him laughing. "You can't see anything. I don't mind."  
  
He blushed. "But it's a private kinda thing, kinda mother and daughter thing, private, not me thing."  
  
He took a step backwards and knocked the metal salad bowl off the counter sending both salad and bowl onto the floor.  
  
The noise startled Ashleigh and she began to cry so Cordelia pulled her away from her breast and whispered soothing words to her while Fred scolded her boyfriend.  
  
Cordelia burst out laughing at the perplexed look on Gunn's face and even Wes, who had come out of his office to see what the commotion was about, laughed. Eventually Fred saw the funny side and began to pick bits of lettuce and tomato off the floor.  
  
"What's Angel doing?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"We're still training." Gunn replied. "I only came up for a drink but I think I'm fine." He raced out of the kitchen and back down to the basement.  
  
Cordelia and Fred burst out laughing again and Wes went back into his office to resume his phone call with a smile on his face.  
  
Cordelia gave the baby to Fred and then made a pitcher of lemonade. She took it down to the basement.  
  
Gunn and Angel were deep in a sword fight so she just took a seat next to Lorne and watched.  
  
"I think your champion's winning." Lorne whispered and accepted a glass of lemonade.  
  
She smiled. "He always does."  
  
"Hey, did you here anything from Kathryn?" He asked.  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, I got a letter from her a couple of weeks ago. They're in Kentucky. They've got their own house and a car and I think they're doing okay. Morgan put a note in saying that she misses me and Jake drew me a picture of their new car."  
  
She turned back to the fight. Gunn had his arm back ready to strike but Angel was faster and knocked it from his hand before he could. The both turned towards Lorne and noticed Cordy.  
  
"Hey guys, I brought lemonade."  
  
They both smiled and accepted it. "When do I get to train with you again?" She asked Angel which caused him to choke on his lemonade and start to cough. "What?"  
  
"I'm kidding Angel." She kissed his forehead and then left, leaving him to wonder whether she really was kidding.  
  
The AI gang were the only ones to stop in that night. Spike, Anya and Dawn had returned and been told to change as Giles had booked a table at a restaurant. Wes ordered Chinese and they all settled down in Angel and Cordelia's room to watch Erin Brockovich and, Gunn's choice, Dumb and Dumber. Angel insisted that he look after the children while Cordelia sat back and do nothing. Halfway through the first film she was fast asleep on the bed with Angel sat in a chair next to her holding her hand. Noticing that she was asleep the gang offered to leave but he insisted that she wouldn't wake up.  
  
They let her sleep late the following morning. Fred and Lorne took care of Ashleigh and Connor while Angel went out on business with Gunn. Wes was entertaining their guests in the boarded up ballroom in the east wing that they didn't use. Before Cordelia had gotten pregnant she'd started to tidy it up and make it liveable. Lorne had even suggested that they open a club there but icy looks from Angel had inspired him to reopen Caritas after Holtz had destroyed it.  
  
Buffy and Spike were working out while Willow, Giles and Wes played chess. Anya, Dawn and Xander were playing Life, which Anya was winning.  
  
Cordelia went into the lobby wearing only Angel's shirt and made herself a cup of black coffee. Fred smiled at her from her position behind Wes's desk.  
  
"Are you feeling a little less tired?"  
  
"A bit." She smiled back. "I can't believe I dropped to sleep like that. You should have woken me."  
  
"You looked so sweet lying there that we didn't have the heart to." She giggled. "I think Ashleigh is awake if you want to feed her. Angel gave her formula this morning but I'm not too sure she liked it."  
  
Cordelia nodded and went to her babies. Connor was fast asleep in his bassinet so she planted a kiss on his forehead before picking up the wide awake Ashleigh.  
  
"Hello baby." She smiled and kissed her forehead. "Did you miss mommy?"  
  
"What's it like?" Fred asked.  
  
"What's what like?"  
  
"Being a mom?"  
  
"Well, I was kinda a mom before so there's not much difference. Except for the fact that I know she is mine and no-one can tell me otherwise." Cordelia said dreamily. "When I woke up in hospital I thought I'd lost her and I was so sad, but then Angel told me that she was alive and it was so amazing."  
  
"I bet."  
  
"Do you want kids?" Cordelia asked her, seeing where the conversation was headed.  
  
"No she doesn't." Gunn interrupted after coming into the lobby with Angel without them hearing. "Right, you don't? Right?" He looked panicked.  
  
"Of course not." Fred said but wouldn't meet his eyes. "I think two babies to look after is enough right?"  
  
"Damn right." He said and came over to her to kiss her.  
  
Cordelia smiled at them and then turned to Angel. "Hey."  
  
He kissed her. "Have a good sleep?"  
  
"Yeah, it was good. I want to train." She replied and looked at him.  
  
"No way." He shook his head.  
  
Her gaze hardened. "It wasn't a question."  
  
"Absolutely out of the question." He said, raising his voice.  
  
"There's not only you that I can train with." She threatened. "Gunn will train with me, right?"  
  
He nodded but then noticed Angel's threatening glance. "Er, maybe not."  
  
Cordelia spun towards Angel. "Don't you dare! It has been long enough. I am feeling fat and lazy and I want to train."  
  
"No!" He shouted.  
  
"I'll go to a gym and work out!" She threatened. "Or I'll get Spike to train me."  
  
"You wouldn't!" He smiled.  
  
"Want to bet?" She threatened again.  
  
"Yes I do!" He called her bluff.  
  
"Fine." She turned away from him and put Ashleigh in her bassinet and went up the stairs.  
  
Gunn burst out laughing. "Angel, man, don't you know anything about her?"  
  
He shook his head at how stupid he had been and then ran after her, leaving Fred and Gunn to smirk after him.  
  
"Hey Spike." Cordelia began. "Buffy." She greeted unenthusiastically. "I was wondering if you could do me a favour."  
  
"If I can."  
  
"Will you train with me?" She asked.  
  
He looked vaguely surprised, he was sure Angel would want to train with the cheerleader. "If you want." He avoided the dark look Buffy was shooting him.  
  
"She doesn't want!" Angel shouted across the room, causing everyone to look at him.  
  
"She doesn't want to train with you."  
  
She spun around. "Yes I do."  
  
"No you don't." He insisted and came across to her, trying to stop himself from looking at her bare legs. "You can train with me."  
  
She smiled. "Sorry Spike. It's about time you gave in Angel. I gave you five minutes. It took you." She looked at her watch. "Nine and a half minutes. I wasn't too far off."  
  
She sauntered past him and went back to her room to get dressed, leaving Angel receiving amused glances from the other in the room.  
  
He smiled sheepishly and made a hastily retreat.  
  
He growled at her. "I can't believe you just did that."  
  
He was following her down the hall watching her hips swing.  
  
"It worked didn't it?" She smirked and turned around, catching him looking. He raised his eyes. "See something you like?" She taunted.  
  
"Like wasn't the chosen word." He grinned and pulled her towards him. "Do you feel up to it yet?"  
  
"Up to what?" She teased.  
  
"Put it this way; are your stitches in properly?"  
  
She nodded and let him pick her up and carry her back to their room. 


	10. Chapter Ten

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
"When are you leaving?" Cordelia asked Buffy bluntly that night.  
  
The slayer looked up to meet the seer's eyes. "Day after tomorrow. Giles wants to go to this rare book shop tomorrow and get a few things. We'll leave after that." Cordelia nodded, satisfied with her answer.  
  
"Angel, honey, can you get me Connor's bottle?" Cordelia asked Angel, who was sat on the counter looking very hot in his leather pants.  
  
"Sure." He hopped off the counter obediently to get it.  
  
"Can you say wrapped around your little finger?" Buffy muttered under her breath but Cordelia heard.  
  
"Can you say jealous much?" She snapped.  
  
"Oh come on Cordelia give me a break! You say jump and he asks how high." The slayer said angrily.  
  
"Yeah, and?"  
  
"It isn't right."  
  
"For who?" Cordelia asked pointedly.  
  
Buffy faltered. "For him. He's like a dog, house trained. You teach him tricks and he performs."  
  
"Oh, he performs just fine, all night in fact!" Cordelia smirked and watched the anger grow in the slayer's eyes. "But while you're busy bitching at me then why don't you realise that there is a vampire in this hotel who is head over heels in love with you. It just isn't Angel. Maybe when you get your head out of the past then you will realise that."  
  
"I died!" Buffy screamed and stood up.  
  
The sound of her shouting brought Angel out of the kitchen with a bottle in his hand and Wes and Giles out of the office where they were studying an ancient text.  
  
"And it must have been hard! But you're alive and there are people that need you and love you and need to be saved by you. It isn't fair to hurt them because you need to have other people feeling hurt as well as yourself. You can't travel back in time, you have to travel forwards. Now stop bitching at me because I have happiness and go and make you happy." She smirked. "Or get someone else to do it."  
  
Buffy swung back her arm to punch Cordelia but she caught it before it hit her. Her hand started to glow and it started to travel up her arm across her body, until all of her was glowing brightly. Giles looked startled but Wes and Angel knew what was happening and just hid their eyes from the bright light.  
  
Cordelia could feel what Buffy felt when she was pulled out of heaven. Tears started to trickle from both women's eyes as they were at one with the feelings Buffy had experienced. Gradually Cordelia felt the tension and hurt draining from Buffy and she started to lose the bright light. Buffy fell to the floor taking Cordelia with her. The slayer began to sob horribly in Cordelia's arms.  
  
Giles, Wes and Angel looked on quietly. Connor started to crawl towards Cordelia but Angel caught him and picked him up.  
  
Cordelia muttered soothing words and brushed Buffy's hair away from her eyes while she cried. Xander and Spike appeared from the basement. Concern appeared on their faces as they saw Buffy crying but then they saw whose arms she was in and just grew confused.  
  
Cordelia looked over Buffy's shoulder and waved Spike over. He came across slowly and knelt down on the floor next to them. His hand touched her shoulder and she instantly flung her arms around his neck, releasing Cordelia.  
  
She stood up wearily and went over to where Angel, Xander, Wes and Giles were stood. "Maybe we should leave them to it." She whispered and nodded her head in the direction of the office.  
  
They nodded and followed her. "Cordelia, what on earth just happened?"  
  
"My demon powers enable me to sort of cleanse people. Buffy's soul was confused and troubled. She had a lot of tension in her aura. I got rid of that for her." She sat down heavily in one of the chairs in Wes's office. "Plus, it's a really good night light." Wes and Angel smiled. "So, you can take away tension?" Xander said. "'Cause I got some major stress going on right now with the wedding." His words were cut off by an icy glare by Angel. "Okay, that's fine." He said and held out his hands in peace.  
  
Angel gave Connor to Wes and went to kneel in front of Cordelia. "Are you okay?"  
  
She nodded and smiled. "A little tired but no more than usual. I did something good."  
  
He kissed her cheek. "Yeah, you did."  
  
Buffy and Spike went out in the courtyard to talk so Cordelia and Angel could go back into the lobby. Cordelia fed Ashleigh while Angel kept Connor company, while he tried to totter up the stairs. Cordelia laughed all of a sudden, causing him to look up.  
  
"What?" She asked and looked at him.  
  
"You laughed."  
  
She laughed again. "Oh, I didn't realise."  
  
"What were you laughing at?" He asked and settled himself on one of the couches with Connor stood in between his knees.  
  
"I was just thinking how weird this is. I mean, here we are, a vampire and a seer and we have two children. It's like domestic bliss magnified!" She exclaimed. "It's so weird!"  
  
He smiled. "I would never have thought this would have happened back in Sunnydale."  
  
"Of course, you were only into slayers then weren't you? Cheerleaders with incredible good looks and great legs didn't appeal to you." She teased.  
  
She heard someone cough behind her. "Excuse me Cordelia." Wesley said. "If I could interrupt your self loving for a minute to talk to you both, I would like to tell you about the text I have been interpreting for the past few days. But if I can't stop you then." He let the words die away.  
  
Cordelia shot him a dirty look. "If I remember right, you were the one that wanted the incredible good looks and great legs, if I remember right."  
  
Wes blushed. "That is not the point." He said primly which caused Angel to smirk. "I have been translating this ancient text and it seems to indicate that danger is coming."  
  
"To who?" Angel asked.  
  
"To you two. And Ashleigh." Wes said grimly. "It appears that you were able to conceive because the powers let you. It appears that Ashleigh will be a major player in a future apocalypse, when both of you aren't around to protect her. She was sent to you because of your combined strength. You have the ability to protect her."  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "This isn't happening. Not again, I can't cope with this again."  
  
Angel picked Connor up and went to sit next to her. "We'll protect her."  
  
"Actually, you might not be able to." Wes interrupted, earning him dark looks.  
  
"Wesley, would you please give us all the bad news at once and not keep doling it out for dramatic effect!" Cordelia snapped.  
  
"Okay, a group of vampires, called the Minknah, will be coming for her to kill her in the next couple of days, at night of course, unless they use the sewers. Ashleigh is in line to become a future slayer." Wes said and paused.  
  
"You have got to be kidding me!" Cordelia shouted. "Then you'll just have to find a way to make her not a slayer, because no daughter of mine is going to have powers and fight evil!"  
  
"Cordelia, it's not that simple." Wes said patiently and went to sit on the other side of her from Angel. "It is destined to be. You cannot stop it, your job is to keep her alive and make sure she fulfils her destiny."  
  
"She's my baby Wesley." Cordelia said emotionally. "She's not a superhero to me, she's my baby. I should have to worry about her getting pregnant or going to college, not about whether or not she'll live to see her first birthday."  
  
"I know it's hard, but think, we've got a slayer, a witch, an ex demon, two vampires, a seer and other people who will help you protect her."  
  
Angel nodded. "How many can we expect?"  
  
"About two hundred."  
  
"Can we run?" Cordelia asked and looked at him desperately. "If we run we could be as far away from here as possible before they even realise it, they wouldn't find us, she could be happy and alive and."  
  
"Cordy, you can't!" Wes said firmly. "They'll find you. We need to stay and fight. We'll need Lorne here to look after Connor and Ashleigh. We'll put him in one of the rooms on the fourth floor and barricade the door. He'll be completely locked in so no-one can get in." Wes said, already formulating a plan. "Giles had some good ideas earlier; I'll get him and let him explain."  
  
He hurried off leaving Angel and Cordelia sitting in silence until he returned with Giles and Fred, who had been helping him research the text but had only just been told, hastily, what it had revealed.  
  
"Cordelia, Angel, I believe we can formulate a plan that will enable us to protect Ashleigh." Giles began and cleaned his glasses. "The fist thing we need to do is block up the sewer access, we cannot have them sneaking up on us when we're not expecting it in the daytime. We'll need some major firepower, as many stakes, crossbows and arrows as you can get. As many people that you can get, also. We may not be enough. We need to keep watch on the main doors as well as any other doors you have in this place. Also balconies on the first floor, vampires can jump quite high. I'll inform Buffy and Spike and the others. I suggest that you call someone to look after the children. This attack may happen tonight but it may not be while tomorrow. Either way we need to be prepared."  
  
Cordelia nodded mutely and got up to put Ashleigh in her bassinet. "I'll call him." Angel stood up. "I'll go and get Gunn, get him to get the weapons, maybe a few of his old crew could help, that is if they have a more open view on vampires with a soul now that they did a couple of years ago."  
  
Fred shuddered as she remembered the night she'd first gone out after being rescued from Pylea. Scary.  
  
She put her hand on Cordelia's arm as she went past. "It'll be okay honey. We'll keep her safe."  
  
Cordelia nodded but said nothing. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Lorne arrived as soon as they called, saying that the babies were more important than his club. He'd left his barman in charge although he was dubious of doing so.  
  
"Princess." He exclaimed and held his arms out to the sullen Cordelia. He pulled her into his embrace. "I won't let them get hurt, I promise. We'll be safe upstairs. Are you coming up too?"  
  
"Yes she is." Angel answered for her as he walked past them.  
  
She pulled herself out of Lorne's hug. "Like hell I am!"  
  
"Cordelia, I'm not arguing with you. We've got a couple of hours until sunset. Gunn and Xander blocked up the balconies and windows, Buffy and Spike have blocked up the sewer access, Anya and Willow have cleared out a room for you to use on the fourth floor and Gunn's crew will be here within the hour. Dawn's gone to stay with her dad out of the way. All we have to do is get you four locked and barricaded in. Don't argue with me Cordelia, I am not letting you get hurt."  
  
"You will not be letting me get hurt. If I do get hurt, if, then it will be my own fault. I cannot sit up there waiting for them to get my baby. I need to help. I have to" She argued, more upset than angry. "Please let me do that with your blessing."  
  
He came across to her and took her in his arms, letting his chin rest on her head. He sighed. "I don't want to lose you. There's already a chance that we'll lose Ashleigh, don't let there be a chance that I could lose you too."  
  
"You won't lose me Angel, I'm invincible." She whispered.  
  
He laughed. "You wish."  
  
She smiled as he kissed her hair. "I'll be careful, I promise."  
  
"Okay, you can fight, but only because I know that I'll not win this argument. If anything happens to you I will never forgive myself." He closed his eyes. "I wish we could stay this way forever."  
  
Gunn interrupted their moment by coming into the office, where they were stood, and coughed.  
  
"We've all said goodbye, it's time." He told them.  
  
"Come on kittens." Lorne said. "Lead the way."  
  
Cordelia and Angel said goodbye to Connor and Ashleigh. Cordelia was crying openly, Angel was holding back his tears.  
  
"Goodbye sweethearts." Cordelia whispered.  
  
"Mama." Connor said and smiled.  
  
Cordelia looked at Angel and Lorne in astonishment. "He said Mama. I can't believe it."  
  
Cordelia and Angel forgot all their sadness for a moment until Wes insisted that they start to barricade the door. Angel kissed Cordelia's cheek "It's time honey. I love you."  
  
"I love you too." She replied.  
  
She followed him to the door but didn't make it in time. Angel slammed it behind him and locked it.  
  
"No!" She screamed and started banging on the door. "You can't do this! I need to help!"  
  
Angel, Buffy and Spike began nailing planks of wood over the door and adding chains. Spike had even found sheets of aluminium from somewhere and began hammering them on too.  
  
"Ignore her." Angel insisted. "There is no way she is getting hurt. She's going to stay there until it's over. There's enough food and water in there to last them three days, just in case it doesn't happen tonight. There's another phone line so we can ring and talk to them. They'll be fine. She'll get over it."  
  
"Who're you trying to convince pet?" Spike asked and paused between hammering. "Us or yourself?"  
  
Angel glowered but said nothing.  
  
"Angel, I will never forgive you if you do not unlock this door! Do you here me? I need to help, please!" She screamed and slid down the door crying.  
  
Lorne came up behind her and lifted her off the floor. "Come on princess, don't make yourself ill."  
  
"He did this on purpose, he had this planned. He lied to me." She was no longer shouting but both Angel and Spike, with their vampire hearing, could still hear her.  
  
"He knew that I needed to do this and he locked me in a room. What about Anya, Willow or Fred? They're women, why aren't they locked in here too?"  
  
"Because they haven't just been knocked down and had a serious operation." Angel shouted through the door.  
  
Cordelia shouted back an obscenity. Lorne turned away so she wouldn't see his smile. She knew exactly what he was doing. "Don't even think about it Kermit, laugh at me and I'll."  
  
"Cor." Angel said pleadingly through the door, interrupting her. "Please, calm down and leave Lorne alone. You're stuck with him for the next three days so please be nice to him."  
  
Cordelia told him exactly what she thought of his idea.  
  
"That isn't very nice." He chided. "We've done here. I'll call you to check up on you, okay?"  
  
There was no reply from Cordelia but an affirmative from Lorne.  
  
"Was Cordelia very mad?" Giles asked.  
  
"Very." Angel replied.  
  
"Not surprising." Gunn added. "You shoved Barbie in a room and locked her in. You're going to get it bro'."  
  
Angel sighed. "I know."  
  
"Angel, we need to get in positions ready for an attack." Wes told him. "You, Buffy and Spike take point. Gunn, Xander and I will fall behind with your crew, Gunn. Giles, you Fred, Willow and Anya stay at the back and guard the stairs in case one of them manages to get past us."  
  
They nodded and went into the lobby to sort out their positions.  
  
The attack began just after sundown. The first vampire to enter the hotel was dusted by crossbow. The ease of which he was killed lifted everyone's spirits. If one could be killed that easy then they all could. Spike even smiled.  
  
They began to come more sudden after that. Buffy, Spike and Angel managed to hold them off, leaving the odd one to be killed by Wes's team.  
  
The vampires were tough, not as tough as Angel and Spike, but tough all the same. They fought well, as though they had had plenty of training for this night. Watching them fight, Wes began to suspect that they had. It was clear that this was not going to be an easy fight.  
  
"Angel!" Fred called out as she saw a vampire move towards his back while he was fighting one in front of him. "Turn!"  
  
Angel spun and kicked it out of the way just as it was about to land a blow onto the back of his head.  
  
The vamp skidded and landed near Gunn's feet where he proceeded to behead it with his axe.  
  
"Charles, you need to help them!" Giles called out from his vantage point at the top of the stairs, watching the battle. "They can't handle it. All of you, you need to move forward!" He ordered and grabbed a crossbow himself so he could fire at the vamps that were still entering the hotel.  
  
Wes, Gunn and Xander obeyed him and joined in the fighting. Anya even grabbed an axe and began fighting until Xander saw her and she stepped back.  
  
"Buffy!" Angel warned as a vampire picked up a stray arrow and advanced on her from behind.  
  
She dusted the vampire she was fighting and turned to knock the arrow from his hand and staked him too. "Thanks." She called back before starting to fight again.  
  
Pretty soon everyone was fighting. Giles, Willow, Fred and Anya included. The vampires just kept on coming.  
  
"Upstairs!" One of them called out to his comrades before being staked by a surprised looking Willow.  
  
A few of them seemed to take notice and began to climb the stairs and push past Giles, who was less than capable to stop them.  
  
"Angel!" He shouted across the lobby to where he was fighting off four or five vamps.  
  
He managed to look across to where Giles was shouting and saw the vamps going up the stairs. He cursed under his breath. "Follow them! Try to lead them away, try anything!" He called back desperately and flung one of the vampires through the door, knocking it off its hinges.  
  
Giles ran up the stairs, seeming to blend in with the vampires. He opened one of the doors on the second floor and ran in, locking it behind him. He pulled the cell phone Buffy had given him out of his tweed jacket. He quickly dialled the number of the phone upstairs.  
  
Lorne answered. "Hello, land of peace and harmony, how can I help?"  
  
"Lorne, for goodness sake!" Giles said irritably. "There's a war going on down here and we're losing."  
  
"How bad?" Lorne asked quietly but Cordelia looked up from her seat next to the window.  
  
"It's bad." Giles gasped. "There are hundreds coming in and we simply cannot hold them back. They are already upstairs looking for you. I'm on the second floor trying to distract them."  
  
"What do you.?" He was cut off.  
  
"Angel?" Cordelia's voice came onto the line.  
  
"No, it's Giles."  
  
"What's going on?" She asked.  
  
"We can't cope." He told her simply.  
  
"Let me out!" She ordered. "I can help."  
  
"I can't Cordelia." He said regretfully. "Angel would kill me and if I did then the vampires already upstairs would find you. I'm hoping that I can distract them long enough for them to be killed by. someone."  
  
"I can help!" She argued.  
  
"Cordelia, I need you to stay there and keep absolutely quiet. Go into the bathroom and shut the door behind you. Take the phone in with you. If you're behind two doors then they might not hear your heartbeats. The only problem is the door but hopefully I'll be able to stop them getting onto your floor." He told her and then said goodbye.  
  
He opened the door and then peered out. No vampires.  
  
He crept down the hall towards the staircase he had just come down. He went up a floor and heard movement down the hall. He crept down further and then pressed the phone to his ear. "Cordelia!" He shouted, loud enough for them to hear. "They're on the third floor, you're okay in the basement, just don't move!"  
  
He ran into one of the spare rooms and waited while the vampires had run past before going upstairs. He went to the room that Cordelia and Lorne were in and checked that it was still barricaded properly. Satisfied, he made his way down into the lobby again.  
  
The fight was still going on fiercely. Buffy was injured as was Angel. Spike seemed in tact but Wesley was out of it in the corner after being flung into the wall. Fred, Willow and Anya were holding their own as were Xander and Gunn. The vampires were still coming. Their research must have been wrong; there were definitely more than two hundred vampires. Giles hurried to where Wes was unconscious. He shook him a bit and then slapped him to wake him up.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked frowning.  
  
He groaned but managed to sit up. "I think so. How's it going?"  
  
"Not good." Giles said and moved away so Wes could look. "They managed to get upstairs although I'm not sure if all of them came down. I called Cordelia and she kept insisting that I let her out."  
  
Wes nodded. "I can understand that."  
  
He stood up. "Well, back to it. You go help Willow and Anya and I'll assist Fred."  
  
The two men rapidly joined in the fighting once again. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia paced the floor anxiously. "I should be down there." She muttered. "Not stuck up here."  
  
"Cordy." Lorne said as he rocked Ashleigh in his arms. "Please sit down, you're making me dizzy. I know you want to be down there helping but maybe you are helping more by being up here. Angel is not going to be distracted, worrying about you and you're safe and your babies are safe. So, please, for goodness sake, sit down!"  
  
She sat.  
  
The vampire made his way across the third floor hallway. After that British guy had left he'd taken a look around. There was no girl or baby on that floor so they were either in the basement like he had said or they were on the floor above. He was taking no chances. He couldn't have the baby growing into a slayer, oh no.  
  
He made his way to the staircase and took a bunch of screwed up paper out of his pocket. He lit his lighter and touched the end of the paper. Flames rose slowly at first and then more rapidly.  
  
He knelt down on the top step and touched the paper on the curling up carpet. It immediately travelled down the hall due to the dryness of it. He then touched the paper to the wallpaper and watched as the flames began to rise up the staircase to the fourth floor.  
  
He smiled evilly, he would kill the child, if it was the last thing he did.  
  
Spike was the first one to smell the smoke. He paused in his fighting and lifted his head up to smell. The vamp he was fighting took that opportunity to knock him off his feet and into Buffy, who also fell on the floor.  
  
"What the hell just happened?" She asked angrily and sprang back up to kill the smirking vampire.  
  
"I can smell smoke." He answered and dusted his vampire.  
  
"What?" Angel asked as he kicked his vampire into Buffy's.  
  
"Smell!" Spike ordered.  
  
Angel did as he was told and smelt the same as Spike had.  
  
"Fred!" He shouted to the girl.  
  
She looked up. "Go upstairs and see if there's a fire!"  
  
She looked puzzled but did as she was told.  
  
She came running back down a few minutes later looking panicked. One look at her face and Angel knew that his instincts had been right.  
  
Spike punched the vampire he was fighting hard enough so that he was flung off his feet. "Fire!" He bellowed.  
  
The vampires all seemed to stop for a moment and then began to fight again. Giles stepped behind the counter and knelt down on the floor, so he was hidden. He called Cordelia's phone on his cell.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Cordelia, there's a fire on the third floor. I don't want you to panic because we are going to get straight on it. If you smell smoke don't panic, okay?"  
  
"How big is it?" She asked, worried and signalling to Lorne to come listen.  
  
"I don't know. I'll go look." He was about to hang up but she interrupted him.  
  
"Get me Buffy." She ordered.  
  
Giles looked over the counter and signalled to her to come over.  
  
She took the phone off him and listened to what Cordelia told her. She nodded and hung up.  
  
"Giles, get Willow, Anya and Fred out of here!" Buffy ordered. "When the vamps realise that there is a fire they'll get out. Get them out of here!"  
  
With that she ran back to the fighting.  
  
Giles made his way over to where the girls were all tackling a couple of vampires between them. He shot arrows at both of them and killed them before explaining that they had to get out. At first they began to argue but the look on Giles's face and the threat of Buffy getting angry if they refused won them over. They ran around the edge of the lobby, avoiding the fighting and ran out of the lobby doors.  
  
Seeing them run out a few of the vampires also left, either because they smelled the smoke or because they figured that if they were leaving then they should too.  
  
The vampires left were easily killed.  
  
Angel instantly ran up the stairs to see how bad the fire was. It had already spread down the hall and covered most of the west wing of the third floor. It had started going up the stairs to the fourth floor but the flames were too big and he couldn't see how far it went.  
  
He bounded back down the stairs.  
  
"Call the fire department." He ordered Xander. "Buffy, we need to get up there. Spike, you and I will."  
  
He was cut off as the wooden end of an axe hit him around the head hard. He fell to the ground and lay still, unconscious. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Buffy dropped the axe. "Spike, take him outside and stay there. Fire can kill you, I can handle this."  
  
Spike looked at her for a moment and then nodded. He began to pick Angel up but stopped and went across to the slayer. He kissed her hard for a moment and then let her go. He picked Angel up and flung him over his shoulder.  
  
"Be careful." He warned Buffy and then left.  
  
"Why did you.?" Xander asked and made a swishing movement with his hand.  
  
"Cordelia made me promise to get him out of here." Buffy replied. "Gunn, can you help me? Wes, Giles, Xander, go outside."  
  
"Buffy, you can't possibly do this on your own." Giles argued.  
  
"I have no choice. Cordelia, Lorne and tow innocent children are trapped upstairs; it is my job to save them." She said and trotted to the stairs. "Now, go!"  
  
She turned again. "Gunn, I need you to clear the way for me with the fire extinguishers. Make me a path and I'll get through."  
  
"How are you gonna get back?" He asked and followed her up the stairs, picking up the extinguisher from next to the weapons cabinet.  
  
"There'll be extinguishers on the fourth floor, right?"  
  
He nodded. "Then I'll use them. Hurry up!" She ordered.  
  
They could feel the heat on the second floor. Reaching the third floor, it began to get very hot. Rounding the corner on the stairs they could see the flames licking up the wall and across the floor.  
  
Gunn moved in front of Buffy in order to put out some of the flames. They moved up towards the stairs to the fourth floor. All of the first few steps were covered in fire as well as the walls and ceiling.  
  
"Gunn, when I've gone I want you to get out of here." She ordered and wrapped her sweater around her hair and over her mouth and nose. "Go outside to the others and make sure Angel can't come in here. I don't care if you have to chain him to a lamp post, don't let him in here, he'll be killed. Keep Spike out there too."  
  
Gunn nodded. "You be careful and get Barbie and the others out safe."  
  
She nodded and smiled, although he couldn't see it because of the sweater. "Let's go!"  
  
Gunn pointed the extinguisher at the base of the fire and let in do its job. Her cleared a path across the floor and then got rid of the flames on the ceiling. She touched his arm in thanks and then ran through the flames up the stairs.  
  
Pulling the pieces of wood and metal off the door was harder than she thought. She began hitting it as hard as she could with the axe she'd brought until the door could be seen.  
  
"Stand back!" She shouted, in case someone was behind it.  
  
The door was only thin and the wood broke easily under the blade of the axe. When there was a hole big enough for her to see through she stopped and looked in. she could see half of Cordelia's face.  
  
"What's happening?" She asked, anxiously.  
  
"The fire's covered all of the third floor. It's going to be tough getting out but with the extinguishers we might manage it."  
  
"What extinguishers?" Cordelia asked. "Did you bring one up with you?"  
  
Buffy's heart seemed to stop. "There are no extinguishers up here?"  
  
The look on Cordelia's face said it all. She cursed. "Look, I need to get you out of here. How is Lorne? And the children?"  
  
"I'm fine peanut." Lorne called through the door. "And the babies are sleeping."  
  
"Stand back!" Buffy ordered again and began to break through a bigger hole in the door.  
  
Outside, Spike and Xander were chaining a half awake Angel to his car.  
  
Anya and Willow were huddled together nearby looking at the red and orange dancing patterns in the windows of the third floor. Fred was shivering and Gunn wrapped his arms around her for comfort. Wes and Giles were conferring by the car, wondering where on earth the fire department was.  
  
They were all startled when the windows on the third floor shattered, sending glass sprinkling over them and the road. They all looked up, most of them bleeding, and wondered how Buffy was getting on.  
  
Buffy jumped as she heard the glass breaking.  
  
"What was that?" Cordelia shouted through the ever growing hole in the door.  
  
"I think the windows went on the third floor." She paused to talk but then carried on making a hole until it was big enough to climb through. "Come on!"  
  
Lorne climbed through first, with Connor and then Cordelia followed, with a crying Ashleigh in her arms. Buffy helped her climb through the hole and then climbed through it herself into the room to grab blankets and towels to cover themselves with.  
  
She ran the taps in the bath in the bathroom. She jumped as she felt Cordelia's hand touch her arm. "Honestly, how bad is it?"  
  
Buffy looked at her for a moment. "It's bad. We need all the wet towels and blankets we can get to cover ourselves so we don't get burnt. With no extinguishers we'll need to go through the flames. You'll need to wrap Ashleigh and Connor completely in the blankets. They won't like it but they'll get burnt otherwise."  
  
"And Angel?" Cordelia asked and began to soak some towels and blankets herself.  
  
"He's chained up to his car." Buffy smirked. "I think he'll be mad when he wakes up and finds out that I hit his with the end of his axe!"  
  
Cordelia smiled. "He'll get over it."  
  
They finished soaking the blankets and went back to the broken door. They climbed through one by one and came back to Lorne, who was looking at the flames from a safe distance with Connor and Ashleigh in his arms. "I think we have a problem."  
  
Buffy and Cordelia looked to where he was looking and saw that part of the staircase had fallen away, leaving a gaping hole that they would have to jump across.  
  
The flames still licked at the walls and ceiling leaving a small gap as to which they would have to jump through to get out.  
  
The only problem was, the drop in between the gap was about fifteen feet with a bed of flames at the bottom. 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Angel woke up and instantly started to struggle. "What the hell am I doing strapped to my car?"  
  
"You're not strapped, you're chained." Fred said helpfully.  
  
He growled and tried to break free of the chains. "What am I doing chained to my car?"  
  
"I did it." Spike said smugly.  
  
"Why?" He shouted angrily, having found that the chains would not break.  
  
"Cordelia, man, she made Buffy promise she wouldn't let you in there." Gunn told him.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"She doesn't want you frying to a crisp bro'. Don't worry, Buffy's gone in and she'll get them out."  
  
Angel looked up and noticed the windows were blown out and that the gang were standing on glass and were bleeding. "What happened?"  
  
"The windows blew out." Anya replied.  
  
"Only on the third floor though." Xander added. "They'd have been on the fourth floor then so they'd have been away from it."  
  
"For God's sake someone let me go!" Angel shouted at them angrily and began to pull at the chains again. "Please! Cordy's in there!"  
  
Despite his protests they didn't oblige. Instead they turned away to look at the burning Hyperion. "Please!"  
  
"What do we do?" Lorne asked the two serious looking women. "Girls?" What do we do?"  
  
"I don't know." Buffy stammered. "I really have no idea what I'm supposed to do."  
  
Cordelia turned to her and grabbed her arm. "Listen to me. You can do this. You've faced apocalypses so many times I don't even want to count them. Hell, you've even died twice. If there's one thing you can do is get us out of here in one piece. Now, think and think well. You can do this."  
  
Buffy nodded slowly. "We could tie a couple of the bed sheets together and I'll jump with one end. We could make slings for the children and let them slide down the sheet."  
  
"Isn't that a bit risky?" Lorne asked, looking at Connor in his arms.  
  
Before Buffy could answer the beam on the roof began to groan and splinter. Lorne dragged both women out of the way just in time for them to see it crash down where they were just stood.  
  
"Or we could crawl along the beam until we get to the other side." Cordelia answered breathing heavily.  
  
"Sounds like a plan." Buffy replied. "We'd better get some sheets just in case for the children. I don't want them to fall."  
  
Cordelia nodded and went to help her, Ashleigh still in her arms.  
  
"Do you think we'll make it?" Cordelia asked once they were alone.  
  
"I don't know." She replied honestly. "Maybe, if we go one at a time and work together."  
  
"Thanks for coming back for us." Cordelia said.  
  
Buffy smiled and hugged her, surprising them both. "I had to."  
  
"Come on." Cordelia said and pulled away.  
  
They both grabbed sheets and went back into the hall that was rapidly being engulfed in fire.  
  
"Did you say that someone had called the fire department?" Lorne shouted over the roar of the fire, holding a hand over his mouth.  
  
"Yeah, they should be here by now." Buffy shouted back and took Connor off him, strapping him to her chest with one of the sheets until he was completely covered.  
  
Cordelia did the same with Ashleigh, covering the screaming child with the sheet and then the wet towels.  
  
"One at a time. "Buffy shouted and advanced towards the beam. She touched it and pulled her hand away quickly. "It's hot! Pass me a couple of the towels."  
  
Lorne threw her a couple of the wet towels so she could drape them over the hot beam.  
  
"Quickly. "Buffy shouted. "When I'm across you start! We have to move fast."  
  
They both nodded and then watched as Buffy began to crawl across the beam slowly.  
  
She seemed to falter in the middle and both Cordelia and Lorne held their breath until she was safely across.  
  
"Your turn!" She shouted to Cordelia.  
  
Cordelia looked at Lorne and he nodded and gave her a quick hug. "Go on princess." She nodded and got down on all fours. The beam was wide enough for her to have both knees on it at the same time. She shuffled her way across, trying not to look at the fiery pit underneath her and trying to block out the screams of Ashleigh.  
  
"Come on Cordy!" Buffy called out and held out her hand for Cordelia to grasp.  
  
Cordelia realised what she had called her and looked up and grinned. "It had to be you!"  
  
"What did?" The slayer asked.  
  
"Normal people bond over pizza or coffee. We bond over a gaping hole with fire at the bottom!" She reached out and grasped Buffy's outstretched hand.  
  
Buffy laughed. "Only me!"  
  
She kept hold of Cordelia until she had her feet on the stairs. Only then did she let go and turn towards Lorne.  
  
"Your turn Lorne!" She shouted.  
  
He nodded and began to shuffle down the beam just as Cordelia had. Halfway across it began to buckle and he looked up in panic.  
  
"Keep going!" Cordelia screamed. "Quickly!"  
  
He began to move his hands faster and crawled his way across the beam. He was a foot from the edge when the beam cracked in the middle. Lorne screamed as he began to fall.  
  
Fall towards the fiery pit fifteen feet below. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Lorne's scream was cut off as a hand clamped around his wrist, stopping him from falling.  
  
Buffy grunted with the effort of holding him in mid air. "Cordelia, a little help here!"  
  
Cordelia jumped. "Oh, okay!"  
  
She knelt down on the floor and leant down to grab Lorne's other hand.  
  
"On the count of three." Buffy gasped. "One, two.."  
  
"Three!" Cordelia finished and they both began to pull Lorne up onto the step they were stood on.  
  
Once Lorne had got his arms on the ledge he was able to help them pull him up.  
  
"Ladies, I owe you one." Lorne gasped and straightened his suit. "In another minute I think my Armani would have been scorched!"  
  
Cordelia rolled her eyes and Buffy just shook her head.  
  
Cordelia checked that Ashleigh was okay and Buffy did the same with Connor. "D'you think we can unwrap them yet?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"We'd better not yet." Buffy replied. "We've still got to get down the hall and we don't know how bad it is."  
  
Cordelia nodded in agreement and they began to advance down the rest of the staircase to the hallway.  
  
"For God's sake!" Angel shouted. "Will you untie me now? I swear, if you keep me tied up then I will kill you all!"  
  
"Angel." Wesley pacified. "Buffy made us promise to stay out here. She will handle this."  
  
"Wesley!" Angel growled again and began thrashing to try to break the chains.  
  
"Look, f they're not out in ten minutes I'll go and get them." Spike said, more to shut Angel up.  
  
Concern was written clearly over Spike's face and he wore a frown. Buffy should be out by now. He was torn between disobeying her and getting shouted at after wards or obeying her and feeling helpless. He decided that Buffy must know what she was doing or she'd have called.  
  
"They'll be okay." He told Angel.  
  
"God, how did it spread so quickly?" Cordelia asked as they saw the flames in the hallway.  
  
"I don't know." Buffy answered and looked around for another way to get downstairs.  
  
"Can we get through them?" Lorne asked.  
  
Buffy shook her head. "We're going to have to find another way out."  
  
"There is no other way out." Cordelia argued and then flinched slightly.  
  
Buffy noticed. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I think I pulled a couple of stitches out."  
  
"Will you be okay?"  
  
She nodded and lifted Ashleigh further up onto her chest, muttering soothing words that the baby couldn't hear. She suspected that she'd finally gone to sleep in her cocoon as she was no longer crying or moving. She could feel the rhythmic breathing so she knew she was okay.  
  
Buffy was having more problems with the wriggling Connor. He was still crying obsessively and confused as to why he couldn't see anything except the white sheet over him.  
  
Cordelia solved that problem by unwrapping his head slightly and talking to him softly until he calmed down and stopped crying.  
  
Just as he was wrapped back up there was an explosion of some sort at the end of the hall sending fire their way. Buffy managed to shove Cordelia and Lorne into one of the doors before falling onto all fours herself so that the flames didn't touch her.  
  
When the fire had passed Cordelia and Lorne looked outside and rushed to Buffy.  
  
"Are you okay?" Cordelia asked, helping the blackened Buffy to her feet.  
  
"Yeah, the floor's going to go, we need to get into a room and get out of a window somehow." She replied, looking down the hall. "Come on!"  
  
They went back down the hall and went into one of the rooms that weren't locked.  
  
Lorne slammed the door behind them while Buffy began to pull sheets off the bed and shove them under the door, blocking out some of the smoke that was pouring through.  
  
Cordelia began to unwrap Ashleigh from her body and placed her on the bed gently, kissing her forehead.  
  
Buffy noticed what she was doing and began to unwrap Connor too, giving him to Cordelia before going to the empty window, the glass had been blown out previously.  
  
She looked out to see where they were. Lorne joined her.  
  
"Look!" He pointed. "There they are. Is Angel Cakes chained to his car?"  
  
Buffy began to shout out of the window. "Help! Xander! Spike!"  
  
The gang on the ground didn't hear her. "Great." She muttered.  
  
"What?" Cordelia asked from her position on the bed next to the babies.  
  
"They can't hear me." She picked up the chair next to the window and flung it out of the window just as Lorne began to sing high pitched out of the window into the night air.  
  
Automatically, whether it was from the singing or the chair landing on the ground and splintering, the gang looked up.  
  
Wesley instantly moved to unlock Angel from his chains so he could follow the gang who were now running towards where the chair had landed.  
  
They looked up and saw Buffy and Lorne in the window.  
  
"Where's Cordelia?" Angel shouted up.  
  
"It's okay Muffin." Lorne called down. "She's here with the bubs!"  
  
"Tell her to come to the window." Angel ordered, he needed to see her for himself.  
  
Lorne disappeared and came to the window with her.  
  
"Hey!" She called down, more brightly than she felt.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine. A little smoke ridden but fine. Any idea how to get us down from here? There's kind of no floor in the hallway no more!"  
  
Angel closed his eyes for a second. He turned to Wes and Giles. "What do we do?"  
  
"Maybe a rope." Giles suggested.  
  
"There's one in the car." Gunn said and ran back to the car to get it.  
  
"It's okay Cordy, Gunn's gone to get a rope." Angel shouted back up to her.  
  
She nodded and then disappeared for a moment to pick up Connor, who had wriggled off the bed and was walking towards the door.  
  
"Hurry up!" Buffy shouted. "I can feel the heat coming through the door, it won't lat much longer!"  
  
Spike shouted up. "Do you want me to come up?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, but thanks. You'll never get through the fire."  
  
Gunn cam back with the rope. "Here." He said and gave it to Angel.  
  
"Will you be able to catch it?" He shouted up to Buffy.  
  
She nodded and held out her hands ready.  
  
It took three attempts for Angel to get the rope to Buffy. She caught it eventually and took it into the room, looking for something to tie it to.  
  
"Try the door handle." Lorne suggested, seeing that there was nothing else to tie it to.  
  
"I don't know whether it will hold."  
  
"But there's nothing else." Cordelia added. "We'll have to test it first but there's nothing else."  
  
"Shouldn't the fire department be here by now?" Lorne asked angrily.  
  
"It wouldn't matter; they wouldn't have ladders long enough to get up here. They'd have to come from the inside and they can't because there's no floor." Buffy explained as she began to tie the rope to the door handle, jumping when the hot metal touched her skin. "There's fire outside that door."  
  
"Quickly!" Cordelia told her. "Pull on the rope. Test it."  
  
Buffy began to use her slayer strength to test the rope. When it didn't slip or break she nodded.  
  
"Lorne, you go first with Ashleigh. Then you, Cordelia will go next with Connor. I'll follow when you're both on the ground. I want both children safe before I go down." Buffy ordered and shepherded them to the window, babies in arms.  
  
Buffy began to bind Ashleigh to Lorne's body so he could climb down the rope using both hands. When it was done he turned to Cordelia.  
  
"Be careful." She told him and hugged them both and kissed Ashleigh's forehead.  
  
"I will Princess." He promised and climbed onto the window ledge.  
  
Cordelia and Buffy watched from the window while the gang on the ground looked up.  
  
Cordelia held her breath anxiously as she watched Lorne inch his way down. "Oh God, oh God." She muttered over and over.  
  
Buffy touched Cordelia's shoulder. "Come on; let's get Connor bound, okay?"  
  
Cordelia nodded and turned away from the window reluctantly to let Buffy wrap sheets around her and Connor, binding them together.  
  
"I don't think I can do this, what if I fall?" She asked nervously. "What if I fall and kill us both?"  
  
"You're not going to fall; you're going to do fine." Buffy reassured. "All you have to do is take it one step at a time."  
  
Cordelia nodded but didn't look reassured.  
  
"You train with Angel, right? So you're strong. And you're part demon, you have the strength, you just have to use it."  
  
Cordelia nodded and wondered if Lorne had got down yet. "Can we see if he's got down yet?"  
  
Buffy smiled and nodded.  
  
They went to the window and looked down. He was about six feet from the floor and moving slowly. Angel and Spike had their arms held up ready to catch him and help him down.  
  
Cordelia released a sigh of relief. "One down." She said.  
  
Buffy nodded. "I'll keep a hold of the rope, okay? So I'll have a hold of you at all times."  
  
Cordelia nodded and hugged Buffy for a moment. "Thanks for everything."  
  
She smiled and nodded. "Get on the window ledge ready."  
  
Cordelia sat on it and swung her legs over the edge.  
  
"Cordelia, be careful!" Angel looked up and saw her.  
  
"I will." She called back down, trying to sound braver than she felt.  
  
She saw Lorne jump to the ground safely and immediately unwrap Ashleigh from his body and give her to Fred.  
  
"Your turn Cordy!" Wesley shouted up to her.  
  
"Go on girl, you'll be fine!" Gunn added.  
  
"I love you!" Angel shouted up.  
  
She took a deep breath and gripped the rope with her thighs, ready to let go of the ledge. She slid backwards off the ledge so not to squash Connor and clung to the rope with her hands.  
  
"Oh my God, what the hell am I doing?" She asked herself.  
  
Buffy answered. "You're saving you and your son's life."  
  
"Great, so it's not like there's a lot of pressure!" She said sarcastically and began to inch down the rope.  
  
"You're doing great!" Fred shouted from the ground.  
  
"Yeah!" Anya added. "I mean, as great as you can be doing when you've only moved a couple of inches!"  
  
"Anya!" Cordelia shouted. "Not helping!"  
  
She inched her way down the rope slowly, trying to ignore the chafing of the rope on her hands and the way it was rubbing through her pants. Great, she thought, I not only get stuck in a burning building, I ruin a pair of pants too.  
  
She'd made it past the third floor when the rope began to wobble.  
  
"What's happening Buffy?" Giles shouted up.  
  
They saw Buffy disappear from sight as the rope began to sway and then fall dramatically, Cordelia still too far off the ground to land safely. 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia screamed and clung to the rope as it began to plummet towards the ground.  
  
Someone on the ground screamed too, maybe Fred or Willow, she wasn't sure.  
  
She closed her eyes and waited for the ground to meet her.  
  
It didn't.  
  
She opened her eyes again and saw that she was about ten feet lower but still not low enough to jump.  
  
"What happened?" She shouted up, clinging to the rope.  
  
Buffy poked her head through the window, or what you could still see of the window.  
  
"The door gave way. I think we'll be okay, it's wedged behind the window."  
  
From their position on the ground they could see that the bottom three quarters of the window was covered by the door. Buffy was attempting to climb over it to stand on the window ledge.  
  
"Buffy, be careful!" Spike warned.  
  
"Of yeah, Buffy be careful, she's not the one dangling in mid air!" Cordelia shouted angrily over Connor's wailing.  
  
"Sorry, pet!" Spike at least had the courtesy to look a little sheepish.  
  
"It's okay Cordy." Angel soothed. "It's only a few more feet and then we can grab you."  
  
The rope began to sway again as there was another explosion upstairs. This one was in the room Buffy was in. She was flung off the ledge with the impact but was lucky enough to have a hold on the rope to stop herself falling.  
  
Cordelia groaned and held onto the rope tighter, pressing it to her cheek. She closed her eyes again.  
  
"Come on Cordelia!" Xander shouted up.  
  
"Baby, it's okay, it's only a bit further!" Angel encouraged. "I'm going up to get her."  
  
He told Wes and started to fling off his duster.  
  
"Angel, you can't!" He argued. "With Buffy on the rope as well now it may not be strong enough to hold all of you. With just them two it should be okay."  
  
"Angel?" Cordelia called down.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"If I get down there in one piece do I get a few days off work?"  
  
He smiled. "Sure! Now please, start moving down again!"  
  
She nodded and opened her eyes to see Buffy climbing down above her.  
  
Slowly she began to inch her way down again until her feet were parallel with Angel's head.  
  
He grabbed hold of her legs and held her until she was low enough for him to grab hold of her waist and lift her down.  
  
He pulled her into his arms instantly. "Baby, I love you so much."  
  
"I love you too Angel." She whispered into his neck. All of a sudden the tears came and she felt relief rise up in her. "I thought we were going to die!"  
  
"I know sweetheart, I know." He soothed and stroked her back.  
  
Behind them Buffy jumped to the ground nimbly and stood while Spike hugged her and then Willow.  
  
Cordelia pulled herself out of Angel's grip and turned towards the slayer. Both women looked at each other and then simultaneously embraced each other. "Thank you." Cordelia whispered.  
  
"No problem." The slayer whispered back just as sirens could be heard in the distance.  
  
"Typical!" Gunn exclaimed. "Just as the damsels are rescued the professionals show! I hate this city! It's like living in a film!"  
  
The two women let go of each other and laughed at the look on the black man's face.  
  
Cordelia began to unwrap the sheet from around her body to let Connor out of the cocoon that he was desperately trying to fight his way out of.  
  
"Maybe we should take them to the hospital to get checked out." Giles suggested.  
  
"And you too Cordy, you said you'd pulled a couple of stitches." Buffy added.  
  
She lifted her shirt to look and found that a couple had come out. "Okay then, Fred and I will go to the hospital. Angel, you and Wesley wait here for the fire department, Gunn; you take everyone else back to my old apartment." Once again she was in charge.  
  
Gunn looked slightly surprised. "I still pay the rent on it for Dennis." She explained. "Now, everyone go and do what they need to."  
  
She turned to Angel. "If you can try and get some clothes for Ashleigh and Connor then it would help. And some formula and."  
  
He cut her off by kissing her. "Stop fussing." He said when they broke apart. "Now, go to the hospital, we'll be fine."  
  
She nodded and went to her jeep with Fred following with Ashleigh in her arms.  
  
They arrived back at her old apartment a couple of hours later. The door was wide open and Spike seemed to be leaning into mid air with a mug of blood in his hand.  
  
"How long have you been here?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"Couple of hours." He replied casually.  
  
"What are you doing out here?"  
  
"Your ghost won't invite me in." He replied, annoyance evident in his voice.  
  
Cordelia stepped around him. "Come in Spike."  
  
He fell straight through the door, the force field having being lifted and smattered blood across the hallway carpet. "You'd better clean that up before Dennis finds out!" Cordelia shouted back over her shoulder as she and Fred made their way into the living room.  
  
"Hey honey." She said to Angel and went to perch on the arm of the chair he was sat in.  
  
"How are they?" He asked and looked at Ashleigh in her arms.  
  
"They're okay. The doctor said that by wrapping them up we probably saved their lives."  
  
"What about you? Did they stitch you back up?" He placed his hand on her stomach.  
  
"Yeah, I only pulled two out so it wasn't that bad." She shrugged it off and smiled brightly at the room. "Did you manage to save anything from the hotel?"  
  
Wes nodded. "We got some clothes out for you, the children and Fred as well as your laptop and my books."  
  
"Is it damaged much?" Fred asked.  
  
"It's impossible to go beyond the third floor because there is no floor. We could only get things from your room and Angel's. I'm afraid all of lour guests belonging have been lost." He replied.  
  
"It'll be okay, I suppose. At least we're here." Buffy smiled at him.  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid it could have been much worse." Giles added and cleaned his glasses.  
  
"Much worse indeed." Wes mused and the whole room went quiet, thinking about what could have happened. 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Title: Family: Forward to LA  
  
Author: victoriamartynne  
  
Rating: R  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
Spoilers: None, I think!  
  
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.  
  
Cordelia lay in her old bed again that night with Angel and the children in their bassinets beside them.  
  
Wes had taken Fred, Anya, Xander and Gunn back to his place which left Spike, Buffy, Willow and Giles to share Cordelia' living room. Buffy had called dawn at their dad's and told her to stay there and they'd pick her up in the morning.  
  
"Cordelia?" Angel asked into the darkness, unsure if she was awake or not.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I'm sorry I locked you in that room."  
  
She turned towards him and rested her head on his shoulder. "It's okay, I mean, it wasn't when you first locked me in but I understand why you did it and I don't blame you. You wanted me to be safe and not get hurt."  
  
"If I'd have known that that was going to happen I'd never have done it, you know that right?"  
  
"Of course I do." She lifted her head so she could look at him.  
  
He kissed her forehead gently and Cordelia could tell he was on a serious guilt trip. "If anything it makes me love you more."  
  
He laughed softly. "How do you get that?"  
  
"Because you shoved me in the room, not Buffy or Willow or Fred. Me. I was the one that you didn't want to get hurt and I love you for that." She kissed his chin. "And I would go through it all again to feel that moment when you out your arms around me and held me so tight. I felt your relief and love for me and that will stick with me for the rest of my life."  
  
He looked down at her comically. "You should write for Hallmark, you know that?"  
  
She burst into a fit of laughter causing Spike to shout through the door in annoyance.  
  
Angel planted a hand across her mouth to shush her but she could see that he was laughing too.  
  
He took his hand away and covered her mouth with his instead.  
  
As if on cue Connor began to cry.  
  
Angel sighed and released Cordelia before turning to pick Connor up. He tried to quieten him before he woke Ashleigh but it was too late and she began to cry too.  
  
"It's like sleeping in a war zone!" Spike shouted through the door.  
  
It was followed by a muffled voice, probably scolding him because he shouted back an apology.  
  
Cordelia smirked at Angel as she got out of her side of the bed to get Ashleigh.  
  
"It's going to be a long night isn't it?" She said yawning.  
  
His only reply was a nod.  
  
"You've got to write to me or e-mail me." Cordelia said to Buffy as they said goodbye.  
  
The Scoobies were all ready in their cars, they'd all said goodbye and they were just waiting for Buffy.  
  
"I will." She promised and hugged Cordelia for a moment. "I might even call."  
  
"I'd like that." Cordelia replied honestly and watched as Buffy got into the car next to Spike. "Come see us soon!"  
  
Buff nodded and they both waved as Spike pulled away from the curb and set off back to Sunnydale in his blacked out car.  
  
Cordelia turned back towards her apartment and saw Angel in the window.  
  
She blew him a kiss and wrapped her arms around her body as she made her way back to the door.  
  
It had been hard and confusing.  
  
But most of all it had been interesting.  
  
She smiled as the door to her apartment flew open.  
  
Very interesting.  
  
The End. 


End file.
